One after another, educators, counselors, students and concerned parents spoke last week of classrooms that have reached nearly 90 degrees for days in a row, high-needs students going without vital support like speech services, a lack of elective courses, crowded classrooms, high teacher turnover and routine pressure for educators to double as substitutes during prep periods. This is not just bad management; this is a betrayal of our trust.
"Nobody goes into education to become rich, but we deserve what was guaranteed to us," Cindy Sexton, president of the Teacher's Association of Baltimore County (TABCO), told Truthout. After months of renegotiations regarding a pay-raise deal for teachers for the 2025-2026 school year, in mid-July, both TABCO and the school district reached an agreement that grants teachers less than they'd bargained for.