School shooting prompts Baltimore school board to reverse initial vote banning cops from carrying guns in school

Baltimore City Public Schools will now permit police officers to carry guns inside schools just a month after voting the armed officer proposal down.

The move also comes two weeks after a shooting that took place at Frederick Douglass High School, a school in the district.

What's a brief history on this?

In January, the Baltimore City school board voted 10-0 to express disapproval of a bill in the state Legislature that would have allowed school resource officers to carry firearms inside school property.

As it stands, officers are allowed to carry service weapons while guarding the schools' exteriors, but are forced to lock up their weapons at the beginning of each school day.

WBAL-TV reported that the SROs are the only officers in the state of Maryland who are not permitted to carry their weapons inside of schools while on duty.

Maryland state Del. Cheryl Glenn, who proposed the legislation, expressed her disappointment at the initial vote.

"I think that this is a very unwise decision," Glenn admitted. "These are sworn police officers. They are not security guards. They have more training than Baltimore police."

She added, "I can't move a bill that doesn't have the support of the school board and the mayor. The votes wouldn't be there."

So what's happening now?

According to a Tuesday report in The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City's school board reversed its initial decision.

To note, Baltimore City is the only area in Maryland with its own dedicated school police force.

The Sun reported that Glenn said even if the school board hadn't re-voted on the issue after the Frederick Douglass incident, she would — and will continue to — push for reform.

In a statement, Glenn told the Sun, "It would be nice if we lived in a world where we didn't need guns at all, but that's not the reality for us in Baltimore City. This decision will give the bill a lot of the support the delegation needs to see. This is all about public safety."

Why did the school board take this vote anyway?

The school board's vote could affect the state bill by offering support for the proposed legislation, which would amend state law to permit officers to patrol schools with guns if passed.

According to the Sun, the vote was a political move that was designed to strike down the bill in the Maryland state house for a lack of support among state delegates.

The Sun's Talia Richman wrote, "The dramatic shift could provide a needed boost to state Del. Cheryl Glenn's proposed legislation in Annapolis."

Richman added, "Just because the board voted to support Glenn's legislation, school board chair Cheryl Casciani said, doesn't mean armed school police are a 'foregone conclusion.'"

"It's not a given what will happen in Annapolis," Casciani explained, "and after it happens we will have some real decisions to make about how we're going to do this."

Glenn said that even though Baltimore City's General Assembly is divided with their support for the issue, she believes the school board vote will help the bill in the state legislature.

You can read more about the school board's decision, as well as the background of the Frederick Douglass High School shooting here.