1. United States
2. Md.
3. Letter

I'm writing to demand that you take immediate action to ensure the Somerset County Board of Education complies with the ACLU of Maryland's lawsuit filed April 14, 2026, and releases all public records they've been hiding about book censorship, the firing of their Black superintendent, and their secretive hiring of new legal counsel. This Board has been operating in the shadows while pushing an anti-equity agenda that targets books affirming Black and LGBTQIA+ experiences. They stripped professional librarians of authority over book selection, gave themselves final say over which books students can access, and blocked a state-endorsed English Language Arts curriculum just weeks before school starts. The Maryland Office of the Inspector General for Education already found they violated state law when they secretly installed ideologically-aligned legal counsel without competitive bidding or public notice. The State Board has reprimanded them six times since 2025 for failing to follow Maryland law. Parents like Joe Hylton have had their public records requests denied repeatedly. The Board has kicked parents and even the superintendent out of meetings, then shifted to virtual sessions to avoid accountability. Somerset County families deserve to know how decisions are made about their children's education and how much taxpayer money is funding this censorship campaign. Support the ACLU lawsuit and push for full transparency now.