Somerset County Educators Exposed Their Ignorance and Proved Why Somerset is the Most Uneducated County in Maryland

It all starts in Kindergarten. Language arts. Civics. Basic things. Writing sentences coherently. Making logical statements- you know, those who start with facts and end with conclusions.

Sadly, Somerset County educators lack basic logic and writing skills that reflect the lowest academic proficiency in the state. In today's local newspaper, they published a hit piece against the Chairman of the Somerset County Board of Education, Mathew Lankford.

Yes, the same Mathew Lankford whose three children were valedictorians when Somerset County had a reputation of not being the worst in the State, and had teachers who knew the difference between blanket accusations and facts.

Mr. Lankford was recently elected and sworn into office in January 2025. Now, he's the target of an uneducated mob. Statements like "he's not collaborating on policy with the Superintendent" are laughable, because the Board writes policies and the Superintendent writes procedures.

The entire Board (not Mr. Lankford himself) passed numerous policies since January. But the Superintendent has not produced a single procedure in a year.

Randi Merritt of the Somerset Education Association (SEA) comes to Somerset from Virginia, but is somehow dictating to the Somerset Education Association that the Superintendent is to write policies and that the Board is to enforce them.

Maybe that's how it's done in Virginia. But in Maryland, the Board writes policies and the Superintendent is supposed to enforce them.

For example, a simple dress code policy was given to the Superintendent to enforce. Instead of enforcing that policy, it's now one year later and the students are not sure whether to go in ski masks or not to school at all. Somehow, it's Chairman Lankford's fault for trying to discuss why Somerset students are walking around school hallways in ski masks, when Lankford witnessed it himself firsthand.

It's unclear how it's all Chairman Lankford's fault for teachers leaving Somerset in droves, while students are throwing chairs and sharp objects at them, and the SEA and superintendent seem oblivious to the escalating violence in our schools.

Back in June of 2025, the same Randi Merritt and SEA rallied a mob to protest that "Chairman Lankford wants to fire all the teachers" and Merritt also missed the entire budget presentation when Chairman Lankford actually did just the opposite - not only were all teachers retained, but ensured that they received pay raises and step-ups.

It's laughable how the leadership of the SEA, the MSEA, and the entire National Teachers' unions all appear to be normal hard working citizens, when they are unhinged, uneducated, and lack common sense. Sadly, these are the people who are replicating their lack of knowledge by teaching children to be just like them.

Fellows & Editors

July 8, 2025 - Copyright DelmarvaPTC.org 

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