Baltimore County Teachers Union Launches ‘Safer Together’ Campaign.

BALTIMORE — Dozens of teachers from 60 schools in Baltimore County gathered for the first time this school year to talk about classroom safety issues.

Many teachers have complained about fights and student behavior problems, and others want schools to create new discipline standards for them to follow.

“Because the topics we hear about most are discipline and safety issues, we really need to take a multi-faceted, multi-faceted approach to everyone who is affected because it’s not one person in the school system. Who does this concern?” – says Cindy Sexton.

The Baltimore County Teachers Association has decided to launch a new campaign called Safer Together. The goal is to find ways to address the issues teachers face and present a plan to the Baltimore County School Board.

“We know that a plan won’t solve the problem, but without a plan you can’t solve the problem,” says Cindy Sexton.

The union hopes its plan will gain approval and support from the school board so that teachers, counselors, coaches, bus drivers and administrators can get the support they need to ensure safer schools in the county.

Cindy Sexton, president of the teachers association, says the plan will involve many small steps, but it’s those small steps that will have huge impacts, such as the county’s decision to regulate cell phones in classrooms.

He says the pilot program was a success, but more are needed.

“Cell phones are such a distraction – obviously they take attention away from the instructions, but also for security reasons – you’re recording people who haven’t given their permission. Students who use them may be using them incorrectly, so we just need to get a handle on the cell phone problem,” Sexton says.

Now, as the union launches the “Safer Together” campaign, it hopes that parents and students will also get involved so that it can be a joint initiative.

“It can’t just be the actions of unions and BCPS management; we have to convince parents and students, otherwise we won’t be as successful as we could be,” Sexton says.

The union plans to present its campaign plan to the board on October 10. If the board approves, the union will work to create a pilot program that it will test during the 2025-2026 school year.