SOMERSET COUNTY - The ACLU of Maryland, the Caucus of African American Leaders, the Somerset County Branch of the NAACP, Watchmen with One Voice Ministerial Alliance, and concerned Somerset parents are demanding immediate transparency and accountability from the Somerset County Board of Education for an unprecedented pattern of enacting policies aimed at book banning, curricular obstruction, and power consolidation. In the past seven months, the now all-white Board has unveiled a political agenda to censor books that affirm Black and LGBTQIA+ experiences while blocking approval of a state-endorsed English Language Arts curriculum that the local Board spent over a year developing, just weeks before the school year begins. These actions, made even more egregious by the Board’s secretive meetings, unlawful firing of the Superintendent of Schools, and threats toward parents and educators, have fractured public trust and placed student rights and funding at grave risk.
The Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education and the State Superintendent have already intervened, citing the Board’s book policy and curriculum refusal as violations of the First Amendment and the Maryland Freedom to Read Act. Meanwhile, the Board’s lack of transparency—hiring political friends as counsel in secret, retaliating against librarians, and silencing community voices—has sparked public outrage and formal administrative complaints. With school only two weeks away, we call on the Board to rescind the unconstitutional book removal policy (Policy No. 500-19), adopt an updated curriculum in compliance with the law, and restore transparency, equity, and respect in the operations and actions of the Somerset County School Board.
Somerset students deserve classrooms and libraries that reflect the full richness of their identities, histories, and voices. Their freedom to learn must be the School Board’s top priority.
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