Baltimore County school district leaders are investigating social media posts allegedly from an Overlea High School teacher that threaten to turn over names of undocumented students to federal immigration officials.
At a virtual school board meeting Tuesday night, community members and local advocates urged leaders to do more to protect students in the face of rising fear.
“Students and parents need their leaders to step up, and we cannot afford to wait for another incident,” said Crisaly de los Santos, director of Central Maryland’s CASA chapter. “Immigrant students are already facing significant barriers: language access, cultural adjustment, and navigating a system that was simply not designed for them. On top of that, now they live in constant fear that their personal information could be shared with ICE.”
The Baltimore Banner reports that posts surfaced last week on X, formerly known as Twitter, from an account under the username “RennerTraining.”
“If you want the names to investigate families to find illegals, let me know in dm [direct message],” a Feb. 5 post read, tagging the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement account. “I’ll give names and school. All in Md.”
The account has since been deleted. And a county spokesperson told The Banner that the teacher allegedly involved is currently on leave.
The incident comes as school districts across the state are grappling with how to interact with immigration officials under a new Trump administration policy that no longer bars schools from ICE enforcement.
Superintendent Myriam Rogers did not address the Overlea High School case at Tuesday’s meeting directly. But she said that school staff are expected to create safe environments for all students, and follow local and federal policies protecting student information.
“There is no circumstance where an adult will report to our school and ask for a student, and the staff will simply turn that student over,” she said. “When staff members violate those expectations and break policies, there are consequences. We absolutely follow due process, but there is an investigation, and based on the results of those investigations, next steps are determined.”
Rogers said she has also met with Maryland ICE Director Matthew Elliston, who said his force only operates outside of schools.
De Los Santos said district leaders need to adopt a “comprehensive policy to protect immigrant students' safety and privacy.”
“What happened last week with the teacher from Overlea High School is not acceptable, and it speaks to a bigger issue,” she said. “The policy must…include training for staff at all levels, so everyone knows how to protect immigrant students. It should also be clearly communicated to parents, ensuring that they understand the information and processes that could possibly take place.”
Lucas Cunha, a director at the Maryland Better Business Bureau, said the recent incident hit close to home for him as a former undocumented immigrant whose brother attended Overlea High School.
He echoed calls for Baltimore County school leaders to act immediately, and “make it clear that no teacher that behaves this way is welcomed in the halls of your schools.”
“This isn't just about immigrant students, either,” Cunha said to the board. “If kids, illegal or not, learn that their teachers might turn against them for political reasons, we aren't just talking about a breach of trust. We are talking about its complete destruction.”
