Harford County school board meets after second student death from gun violence in two months
BALTIMORE -- Harford County's Board of Education opened Monday's meeting with a moment of silence for a second student who died of gun violence in less than two months.
Jai'den Winchester, a 14-year-old student at Havre de Grace High School, was shot and killed during a Halloween party late Saturday. A 16-year-old is facing murder charges.
"It's very unfortunate that we have lost another student here in Harford County," said Aaron Poynton, the school board's president.
"The impact of this senseless tragedy reaches far and wide," board member Lauren Strauss said.
The teen's death comes a week after the district held a community safety meeting to talk about security improvements in schools following September's murder of Warren Grant inside Joppatowne High School.
The security improvements include enhancing surveillance and a call for metal detectors.
School board VP will keep title
The deadly school shooting at Joppatowne High led Board of Education Vice President Melissa Hahn to call for the Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Sean Bulson to step down in meetings because of known security shortfalls.
"I once again am requesting that Dr. Bulson immediately resign as superintendent," Hahn said during a meeting on September 23.
Two weeks ago, a motion was made to remove Hahn's title of vice president after board member Carol Mueller said it was inappropriate to make such a demand in a public setting, which drew backlash from some of Hahn's supporters during Monday's meeting.
"We cannot set a precedent where we indict and demote our board colleagues over petty disagreements," one speaker said.
The board president put the motion to bed Monday after poring over the rules.
"I'm declaring that the motion was improperly declared and clarifying that the motion did not in fact achieve the required majority vote to pass," Poynton said. "I'm hoping after this point of order this evening that the board can get back to work and do the serious work that we really need to focus on."
Parents and staff were sent a community safety survey to provide feedback.
