Schools Must Limit the Access of Federal Agencies like ICE to Students' Families
The actions of Baltimore County school teacher Dustin Renner are clearly reprehensible. CASA appreciates that Baltimore County Public Schools has taken swift action to remove him from the school after he was found ready to share the personal information of students who attended an immigrant solidarity rally. His posts this week only capped previously posted attacks on his students in public social media spaces.
Frankly, advising frontline staff to simply call lawyers or the superintendent is not enough. Families must know that ICE will be blocked from school resources and information and the current policy does not spell that out.
Parents and students are justifiably terrorized by the attacks coming from Washington and orchestrated locally by ICE. But the BCPS administration has failed to provide clear guidance to staff and families. Parents and students need to know that schools are safe spaces and that staff have clear instructions to follow when ICE enforcement is attempted on or near campuses and programs.
CASA calls on Baltimore County Public Schools and the Maryland State Department of Education to adopt a much clearer policy that lays out with particularity the restrictions against agencies accessing families, programs, resources, and information while conducting civil immigration enforcement.
