Maryland State Board of Education Shows Bias, Incompetence, and Hate Towards Somerset County Board of Education
It all began in the 2024 election when Mathew Lankford won the election for his district on the Somerset County Board of Education.
He was that parent who read all the books and paid attention to the curriculum and books his three children were reading. After all, his oldest daughter is a U.S. Navy doctor, middle daughter is an upcoming attorney, and his youngest son is studying engineering at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis.
His sole purpose for running for the Board of Education seat is to help deeply uneducated students in Somerset County.
Somerset County's academic achievement rate is the worst in the State of Maryland. Only about 10% of students are proficient in math and less than 30% are proficient in English Language Arts.
But yet, his children are the exception and at the top of the academic achievement in Maryland.
All three of his children achieved top scores on the SAT, and managed to be one of the most competitive in the admissions process to the top academic institutions in America.
One can clearly see that Chairman Lankford's public service to his county could have enormous benefits to the students of Somerset County.
In addition to SEA President Phaedra Spencer, the following individuals have filed a complaint against Chairman Lankford:
1. Little Joseph Hylton
2. Sharyn Yuloff
3. Victoria Green
4. Kristen Davis
5. Barbara Hicks
6. Angie Pendry
Within 4 months of Lankford taking office in 2025, the first litigation blitz flooded MSDE with allegations of "misconduct" for asking questions in a rude manner. Mr. Lankford's note was not gentle and soothing enough for the first-time Superintendent.
Once the MSDE rejected allegations of removal in 2025, similar allegations were refiled, and this time the "rude" and "unprofessional" demeanor is actually open for the public to see:
The sole issue is questioning Phaedra Spencer, Media Specialist and the President of the SEA, for knowingly posting false information on Facebook that stated that "the Board bans Harry Potter, Letters of Anne Frank and To Kill A Mockingbird".
Chairman Lankford wanted to know why Ms. Spencer was untruthful after what she admittedly posted.
He also recommended disciplinary actions to the district Superintendent for violating the Board's social media policy.
It is worth noting that Ms. Spencer personally selected more than 1,000 book titles for purchase. She appeared before the Board, and Mr. Lankford voted to approve all of her recommendations without question. Yet just one week later, he watched in disbelief as Ms. Spencer took to Facebook and launched a public campaign against the Somerset County Board of Education based on claims that the Board was banning Harry Potter.
Accountability is the very reason local Boards of Education exist, and the same principle applies to the State Board of Education. Yet, the Maryland State Board is made up of unelected appointees who seem to believe they are exempt from accountability to the very people they serve, operating under a completely different set of rules that they make up as they go, with a side order of personal bias.
Both the Maryland State Education Association and Somerset Education Association used Chairman Lankford as a subject to lobby the Maryland State Board of Education and to coerce the local Somerset County Board to keep pornographic books deceptively blended into the collection of children's books in Somerset school media centers.
The Somerset County Board of Education passed Policy 500-19, which instructs school media centers to properly catalog children's literature based on their age and educational suitability.
The SEA and the Association of School Librarians claim that "children ages 9-18 are young adults".
Maryland law states that all persons under the age of 18 are minors and persons 18 and older are adults.
COMAR regulations further define "young adults" as individuals between ages 13-23 who may be using public school facilities.
The Maryland Education Article assigns local boards the responsibility of establishing policies for their respective school districts.
Sadly, it has become clear that the MSDE has lost its ability to distinguish the scope and limits of collective bargaining and activism by the teachers' union(s).
Board members who are subject to removal have the right to an attorney.
Individual attorneys may charge way more per hour than the local Board Attorneys.
Local Board attorneys charge a municipal rate of $250/hour.
Attorneys representing individual board members charge reasonable legal rates, anywhere between $350-550/hour.
These are the costs that will be levied on Somerset County Taxpayers by those individuals involved in filing bogus claims to remove lawfully elected representatives. The same people who are accusing the Board of wasting taxpayer dollars are the very ones incurring the expenses.
Based on recent news reports, it appears that the MSDE leaked the contents of their closed session meeting to reporters of the Baltimore Banner and Baltimore Sun before Somerset County Board Members had a chance to read the official opinion by the MSDE.
It is ironic that the MSDE claims that there is sufficient evidence to proceed with charges against a Board member for asking questions, while they themselves leaked closed session minutes to the press.
Chairman Lankford is expected to fight even harder for students and parents now that the gloves are off.
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Fellows & Editors
October 30, 2026. Copyright DelmarvaPTC.org
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