On June 5, 2025, WMDT published a false article and news report that the Superintendent of Somerset County was terminated by the Somerset County Board of Education and her employment was reinstated by intervention of the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) with an ordered stay to override the Board’s decision. It is unfortunate that WMDT publishes confusing and false information using unverified sources, which only hurts the public. The parents and citizens of Somerset need to know the following factual information:
- The Somerset Education Association (SEA) has no knowledge about personnel matters concerning the Superintendent and the Board of Education, because those matters are subject to confidentiality and held in a closed session. Ms. Randi Merritt, President of the Somerset Education Association (SEA) has no clue about the reasons for dispute or issues between the Superintendent and the BOE. The employment of the Superintendent does not fall under the purview of the SEA, nor does the Board Chair have an obligation to report to the SEA regarding the personnel matters of their only employee.
- The article and news report is false, because the SEA and the public have no idea of the grievances, arbitrations, and lawsuits that are currently pending against the Superintendent by parents, school employees, custodians, and others since the Superintendent took office on July 1, 2024. These proceedings are confidential by law, because it involves personal matters of students, teachers, and staff.
- The public needs to understand that there are state and federal laws that define how such things are handled. This includes individual and confidential contractual obligations, which regulate rights and responsibilities of the Superintendent, teachers, custodians and everyone else working in the public sector. Sadly, the public doesn’t know specifics and many posts by the mainstream media and individuals who try to be influencers use hearsay, assumptions, and false political narratives to create chaos in the public, while failing to present supporting facts or evidence.
- Under the due process clause of the U.S. Constitution 5th and 14th Amendment (as it applies to the States), public school officials cannot be terminated in a day. The termination process for government employees (which includes the Superintendent, teachers, supervisors, and custodians) is a process which can last for many months.
- The gossip about the budget or reasons for termination is FALSE. The School Board and the Superintendent have not completed or approved the budget, and we saw numerous activists barging into the Somerset County closed and open session meetings in an attempt to score activism points rather than explain to parents that the school board is not firing teachers. Information about terminating teachers is false.
Here are some things that are true:
- As observed from the public open sessions, we can all see that the Board of Education and the Superintendent are at odds with each other from at least January, since the appointment of the new board members who were overwhelmingly elected by the citizens of Somerset County.
- We all could see that the Superintendent wanted to shut down the Deal Island Elementary School without Board’s knowledge or consent in December’s “hot mic” incident. This action created terrible tension and worry for teachers and parents in the Deal Island Community.
- We all saw from both the Superintendent’s presentation and the Board’s continued complaints that Somerset County public schools have the worst record in discipline and student achievement in the entire State of Maryland.
- We all saw no meaningful solutions presented to the Board by the Superintendent to resolve this colossal trend of being one of the worst (if not the worst) county in Maryland by student achievement. Learning loss of our students is irreversible.
- We also heard from parents that their children in Washington High School have not had a steady math professor for the entire school year and substitute after substitute (which is unacceptable).
- We saw that one board member even recently resigned (Mr. Allan Ford).
- We all saw the Superintendent and the Chairman of the Board in front of our Commissioners saying two different things: you don’t need to be a genius to understand that the Board of Education and the Superintendent are providing conflicting information to the Commissioners about the school budget.
- A Superintendent is the one and only employee of the School Board under COMAR. No one has ever seen an employee going behind their boss’s back without permission and authorization and saying one thing to a third party and the boss saying another thing to the same party. The Board hired her, and the Board should be able to fire her (but not at will). There is DUE PROCESS, and fake news from WMDT 47 or gossip is not helpful.
- We also saw and heard from Chairman Lankford that pouring money for the students is welcome, but we need to also realize that Somerset County has the highest cost per student: $24,400 as compared to QAC which is $13,850 per student. Somerset is a small county. With that kind of per pupil spending, Somerset should be the top performing school system in Maryland.
- The SEA and Ms. Merritt have a responsibility to explain why our students are the least educated in Maryland, while the expense per student is the highest per pupil. If we gave $24,400 to each parent who has a student in Somerset County public schools and they can use that money to send their children to any public or private school, then what do you think SEA would say or do?
It’s a matter of fact that we cannot return time to our kids who lost an opportunity to learn. This Superintendent was given an ample opportunity to help the community and students learn. That has not happened. The article saying that 1-year of lost education is not a big deal and that the Superintendent should have more time to prove that she is competent is illogical. Students cannot continue to lose time and we cannot have the luxury to continue with this trend.
This school board is new: two board members have took office in January 2025. There’s no hidden agenda, as they were very transparent on their positions when they ran for office. Through a democratic process, they were elected by the people. Due to confidentiality reasons, we cannot know why Mr. Ford resigned and what other issues lie between the Superintendent and the Board. What we do know is these specific things are true by just observing public school board meetings.
Lastly, Chairman Lankford is appointed by the Board to speak on behalf the Board. Many people mistakenly think that he is speaking based on his personal beliefs or positions and have attacked him personally. Many people do not understand that Mr. Lankford speaks for the Board after he considers everyone’s opinion and after the Board votes on issues. That’s how all Boards operate.
If termination occurs, the MSDE cannot have involvement or intervene based on the timeline of due process that must first play out on a local level. Therefore, there cannot be any reinstatement or ordered stay apart from the authority of the local Board.
MD Education Code § 4-201:
(4) (i) A county board may remove a county superintendent under this subsection if the county board provides the county superintendent with:
1. The reason for removal, chosen from one or more of the items in paragraph (1) of this subsection;
2. Documentation supporting the case for removal; and
3. The opportunity to request a hearing within 10 days before the county board in accordance with this subsection.
(ii) The county superintendent may appeal the decision of the county board to the State Board.
After receiving a notice of termination, a county Superintendent has a maximum of sixty (60) days to request a hearing before the local Board. After the 60 days has passed, the Superintendent is officially terminated and can then file an appeal to the State Board.
The Delmarva Parent Teacher Coalition knows the importance of getting facts straight with all supporting evidence before an issue is presented. When one fails to do that, it becomes propaganda based on feelings, and all credibility goes out the window. Parents should be mindful of the law and rules that ignorant activists often don’t understand.
Fellows & Editors
June 7, 2025 – Copyright DelmarvaPTC.org
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