On the heels of a gun going off at a Baltimore elementary school last week, a shooting outside a Frederick Douglass High football game Friday, a recent BB gun incident in Baltimore County and a series of bomb threats that prompted the evacuation of an Anne Arundel County high school, Gov. Robert Ehrlich announced the appointments Tuesday to the newly formed 19-member Task Force on School Safety.
The task force was authorized in May by legislation passed by the General Assembly over the opposition of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.
The association said in testimony that the task force?s mission was too broad and included everything from school bullying to mental health counseling, to facility security and emergency disaster response procedures, said John Woolums, director of government relations for the association. Woolums said, however, the organization will help the task force in all ways possible.
John A. Hayden III, a former Maryland Association of Boards of Education president, new task force member and current Baltimore County school board member, said he is concerned with school safety, but also “making sure going to school is not like going to visit a prison or parole officer.”
The school-safety task force will study topics including the potential for natural disasters, exposure to hazardous substances and emergency operations planning, the governor?s office said in a news release.
Ehrlich also addressed a letter to Maryland?s school superintendents, reminding them of the vital nature of emergency planning and offering assistance in developing and implementing school safety plans.
Seven task members were appointed by the governor and the rest in consultation with the president of the Senate, the speaker of the House, the state superintendent of schools, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education, the State Police and the Attorney General of Maryland.
The task force will report its findings and recommendations on issues related to school safety by Dec. 1, 2007.
State Task Force on School Safety
Parent Representatives
» Donald Bridges, Baltimore County; Christopher Drummond, Queen Anne?s County
Student Representatives
» Jillian Shpuntoff, Anne Arundel County;Corinne Ung, Howard County
Public School Teachers
» Lorraine Anders, Talbot County;
Jane Brandt, Frederick County; Patricia Cook-Ferguson, Baltimore City;
Elizabeth Weller, Kent County
Nonpublic School Representative
» Michael Caruso, Montgomery County
Knowledgeable in Serving Students with Disabilities
» Kathleen Lyon, St. Mary?s County
School Psychiatrist/Sociologist
» Cynthia Shulmeyer, Howard County
Representatives of Maryland Association of Boards of Education
» John A. Hayden III, Baltimore County; Patricia O?Neill, Montgomery County
Representative of School Bus Drivers
» Robert Ginter, Carroll County
Representing Maryland General Assembly
» Honorable Gwendolyn Britt, Prince George?s County; Honorable Nancy King, Montgomery County
Departmental Representatives
» Ann Chafin, representing state superintendent of schools; Colonel Walter Landon, representing secretary of state police; Carolyn Quattrocki, representing attorney general