Maryland’s governor is getting involved after the state school board mandated how students’ criminal histories are shared.

Wes Moore this week ordered the Department of Juvenile Services to lead an interagency review of how information is shared about Maryland public school students who have been accused or convicted of violent crimes, according to a news release Friday.

Council of State decided on Tuesday that superintendents must be notified if new students have committed serious crimes while attending previous Maryland schools. Before the emergency vote, the bylaws required law enforcement to notify the school system of the arrest of one of its students for certain crimes. It allowed, but did not require, a school system to notify another school system of offenses if that student were to transfer. The change now makes this mandatory.

The rule change comes after a Howard High School student with a criminal record was charged with first degree murder. Howard County Superintendent Bill Barnes he said at a news conference last week that the 17-year-old had transferred from a neighboring school district and that Howard had “no record” of the nature of his crimes.

The 17-year-old was under the supervision of the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services and was wearing an ankle monitor for a previous incident in another jurisdiction, police said. Barnes said last week school staff knew he was getting support from the Department of Juvenile Services, but didn’t know other details until a bond hearing last week.

The student had previously shot someone who is now paralyzed, according to the hearing. If the school system had known about it, Barnes said last week, the 17-year-old would not have been approved to attend Howard High.

It prompted a letter from state lawmakers to state Superintendent Carey Wright on Monday. The letter asked the education department, among other things, to require all 24 public school systems to transfer records of students with reportable offenses who transfer school districts or transferred within the past year.

Wright told news outlets on Tuesday that all of the lawmakers’ requests have been followed by the rule update.

Barnes announced at a school board meeting Thursday that the cases of approximately 48 Howard County students currently enrolled with DJS contact will be reviewed by school staff, according to WJZand that, among other things, a student’s family will be interviewed if a reportable offense is found.

The news release from Moore’s office states that an initial review was conducted that included the state education department, the Attorney General’s Office and the Maryland Center for School Safety. That review led to the rule change approved by the state school board on Tuesday.

The rule, which needs approval from the state legislature before taking effect, applies to a student transferring from a Maryland public or nonpublic school (a publicly funded independent school for high-needs students) to another and does not address students who come to Maryland public schools from independent education programs, out-of-state programs, private schools, or others.

It only affects students who have been arrested for a “reportable offense,” including murder, arson, armed carjacking and sex offenses.

The procedures reviewed are not intended to punish the students involved in the lawsuit, the press release states, but to help provide information that could impact safety in school communities.

The ongoing review, according to the release, will inform the work of the Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging Best Practices, which is a statewide commission to review and report on juvenile services, facilities and programs in Maryland. The commission’s first meeting will take place “in the coming weeks.”

“The actions we are taking today will help make Maryland safer as we continue to work with all corners of society to meet the needs of our schools,” Moore said in the news release. “And I will be studying this interagency review closely after it is completed.”

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