HEADLINES
Maryland Targets Information Sharing on Gang-Related Activity
In the wake of the tragic death of 14-year-old Christopher
Jones in Anne Arundel County (Md.) last year, Speaker of the House of Delegates Michael Busch introduced a bill that would require juvenile courts to notify school officials about gang ac- tivity. Te measure would increase communication between local police, the courts and school districts, including the transportation department. “As a former teacher, I understand how much things happen-
ing outside of school in a child’s life can impact their ability to learn,” said Busch. “It is our responsibility as parents, coaches, mentors, guardians and family members to ensure that our chil- dren have the safest possible environment in which to learn each and every day.” Te Safe Schools Act of 2010 is the result of a series of meet-
ings last fall with state lawmakers, police, prosecutors, schools and state agencies to craft legislation to protect Maryland stu- dents from exposure to gang activity and recruitment while in school. According to the Maryland Coordination and Analysis Center, there is now gang activity in every county in the state, including many national gangs like the Bloods, Crips, MS-13 and Latin Kings. “To think that criminal gangs would be able to infiltrate and
recruit our young people from these safe havens is unaccept- able,” added Busch. But, for some school districts, the issue of gang violence is
nothing new and something they have already been training to identify. Charlie Taibi, director of transportation for Harford County Public Schools, included a segment on gang awareness during his department’s in-service meeting last summer. Te ses- sion was conducted by local Sheriff’s deputies assigned to the gang-related unit. “We recognized that the more intelligence we can provide to
our law enforcement agencies, the more effective they can be to eliminate this evil,” said Taibi. “Much gang recruiting or gang in- volvement occurs at bus stops, on the bus or around schools.” With his drivers’ vigilant participation in observing the commu-
nity at large, they have alerted the Sheriff’s department of situations of which they might not have been otherwise made aware. Te bill, which as of this writing had passed a third reading
in the House, also includes a provision that prohibits a student who is convicted of or is an adjudicated delinquent for a report- able offense involving rape or a sexual offense from attending the same school or riding on the same school bus as the victim. ■
22 School Transportation News Magazine May 2010
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