Felony charges faced by former Edgewood Middle School English teacher Lawrence Smith did not legally disqualify him from being employed by Harford County Public Schools, Board of Education President Aaron Poynton said. Despite this, Smith has resigned, the school system announced Monday.

Smith was arrested in September 2023 and charged with 15 felony counts involving tax evasion and collecting $215,000 in fraudulent overtime pay from when he worked as a Baltimore City Schools police detective.

While he was awaiting trial on those charges, he was hired as a long-term substitute with the Harford school system in December 2024, then hired full-time in August.

In mid-October Smith pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion. At that time, Smith was placed on administrative leave by Harford Schools and had 10 days to appeal the district’s decision, resign or wait for the outcome of the district’s process and possibly face termination. Smith chose to resign, according to Harford County Public Schools’ Manager of Communications Jillian Lader.

Smith’s employment amid the pending charges was criticized by state Del. Lauren Arikan who said last week that Smith’s hiring is a demonstration of “a profound breakdown in judgement and oversight” and called for Superintendent Sean Bulson’s firing since the decision to hire Smith was made under Bulson’s leadership.

The Republican represents Bel Air, Jarrettsville, Fallston, Edgewood and Joppatowne.

In a response letter to Arikan, Poynton said Smith passed all of the mandated background checks since the charges Smith faced at the time of his hiring did not “legally disqualify” him from employment and did not “generate a prohibitive background check for flags under Maryland screening requirements.”

“Maryland law prohibits hiring only upon conviction of specific disqualifying offenses — such as child sexual abuse, crimes of violence, or sexual offenses — not on the basis of pending charges,” Poynton said.

Poynton said that once the school system became aware of Smith’s conviction, “immediate and appropriate action was taken in accordance with Maryland code.”

“After reviewing the circumstances, I have determined that HCPS followed all required hiring procedures at the time,” Poynton said.

Poynton said Bulson’s removal for Smith’s hiring was not something the county or state boards of education could do since the conditions of the removal would not fit state law. The state superintendent or local board of education may remove a sitting county superintendent only for immorality, misconduct in office, insubordination, incompetency or willful neglect of duty.

Acknowledging the concerns from the Harford Schools community, Poynton said the episode “underscores the importance of continually evaluating and strengthening” practices and expectations and standards of the school system and that he directed district leadership to review its hiring and screening process to identify opportunities for improvement.

Additionally, since the state legislature establishes the district’s background check requirements, Poynton said he welcomed the opportunity to work with Arikan on legislation to strengthen background checks for educators.

“I want to reassure our community that the school system takes these matters very seriously,” Poynton said in a social media post. “Nothing is more important than upholding public trust and ensuring the highest standards among our staff.”

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