The Baltimore school board has approved spending $1.5 million to improve security at its schools, after students set a rash of fires and two brothers were wounded by gunfire outside a high school.
The decision last month will enable administrators in the 89,000-student system to hire an additional 37 hall monitors and 34 resource officers to help police keep order in several “high need” schools. The money also will be spent to equip school leaders with cellphones and walkie-talkies to improve communication in large schools.
Nineteen fires have been set at the 1,250-student Walbrook High Uniform Services Academy this year, and more than 40 fires have been set in at least 14 other schools. Twenty students have been arrested, according to a spokeswoman for the district. Police have also charged a 16-year-old student with attempted murder in connection with an Oct. 21 shooting outside Thurgood Marshall High School that wounded the two brothers.
