Fighting Extremism in Somerset County:
How One Local Is Fighting Back
Somerset County has been ground zero for a fight against a school board president and board majority bent on underfunding schools and instituting an extremist public school agenda that aligns with Moms for Liberty and other like-minded groups.
It all started last November when far right extremist candidates were elected to a majority of seats on the school board, including the heavy-handed board president Matthew Lankford who quickly got to work. Among the first assaults on county schools by Lankford and the board were policies limiting what flags could be flown, seizing control of selecting media for school media centers from media specialists, proposing cutting media specialist positions, and more recently, attempting to fire Superintendent Ava Tasker-Mitchell, an experienced administrator. They also held up approval for the new 2025–2026 English language arts curriculum, thereby risking a one-time $10 million literacy grant from MSDE and putting at risk the strides the county has made after ranking second-highest in year-over-year improvement in ELA proficiency in the state.
Lankford also attempted to shortchange the county’s education budget by $1 million, which represented the media specialists’ salaries. In an unusual move, county commissioners sided with educators and Tasker-Mitchell and reinstated the $1 million cut, saving media specialist jobs.
Of all the problems brought on by Lankford and the board, it is the ELA curriculum battle that most disrupted teaching and learning in the first days of the school year. “Teachers began the year without supplies for the curriculum because the board decision was made at the last minute,” said Somerset Education Association (SEA) President Phaedra Spencer. “The board rejected the preferred curriculum because it ‘might’ contain DEI materials in some of the activities and books.
“The board believes that DEI and social emotional learning (SEL) should be eliminated, despite not understanding what they mean in the context of schools. Of course the students are hurt most, followed by the teachers. It’s disheartening for teachers not to be able to use the professional judgment we’ve cultivated throughout our careers,” Spencer added.
Efforts to remove Tasker-Mitchell—taken in a closed-door meeting of the board—were halted in June when State Superintendent Carey Wright and the state board stepped in to reinstate Tasker-Mitchell for 60 days pending a review by the state. Their action included admonishing the board that they would be removed if they took action after 60 days but before the review was final.
Leaders of SEA, including Spencer, past president Randi Merritt, and vice presidents Barbara Hicks and Angela Pendry, took charge in August. They distributed a countywide petition to oust Lankford, garnering hundreds of signatures and dramatically increasing community attendance and participation in board of education meetings.
In early August, Superintendent Wright, in a letter to the school board chair, threatened to withhold funding and unseat board members if they fired Tasker-Mitchell. Lankford already had a replacement in line (declined by Wright) with former Dorchester County Superintendent David Bromwell.
Governor Moore’s recent appointment to fill a vacancy on Somerset’s school board with John Robertson is providing some hope for educators in the county. Robertson could represent the tie-breaking vote in the curriculum battle and other policy struggles.
“We are very excited about the governor’s appointed board member. As a retired teacher from Somerset, John Robertson is very knowledgeable about education, open-minded, listens attentively during conversations, and appears to genuinely want what is best for the entire community. He and fellow board member William McInturff are voices of reason.”