Somerset County’s MAGA-aligned school board is in a battle with state education officials over policy decisions the board has made since winning a majority last November.

The conflict reached a head this week when Maryland State Superintendent Carey Wright wrote a letter to the county’s school board chairman threatening to withhold funding and unseat school board members if they removed their superintendent from her office.

Here’s how we got here and what to know about the dispute:

The board has tried to fire the superintendent

The state schools superintendent and state school board stepped in in June after the Somerset County school board tried to dismiss Superintendent Ava Tasker-Mitchell.

By law Maryland school district superintendents have four-year contracts, and Tasker-Mitchell’s contract says she can be removed only for “immorality, misconduct in office, insubordination, incompetency, or willful neglect of duty.”

The state board acted to protect Tasker-Mitchell’s due process rights by granting her a 60-day reprieve for an appeal and then extending that period to January. In a letter this week, Wright warned the Somerset County school board that removing Tasker-Mitchell could result in withholding district funding or seeking to remove school board members.

“Dr. Tasker-Mitchell is to remain in her position until the State Board has issued a final decision on the appeal of her termination,” Wright wrote.

Neither Tasker-Mitchell nor Somerset County school board members have commented on the situation.

Tasker-Mitchell remains on the job for now

Tasker-Mitchell was in her office with a lineup of meetings until the end of the day on Wednesday, according to her assistant, Tanavia Anthony.

But the school board has a replacement in mind

Somerset’s board has asked the state superintendent’s permission to install a new interim superintendent even while Tasker-Mitchell remains in her office.

According to Wright’s letter to Somerset County school board Chair Matthew Lankford, Lankford had asked permission to hire former Dorchester County Superintendent David Bromwell on an interim basis.

Wright has declined the request.

Last month, teachers union representatives gave the state school board a petition signed by 467 educators and members of the community asking for Lankford’s removal.

Most of the disagreements have their roots in politics

Somerset’s board has made a series of policy decisions that have upset residents and parents, including taking control of what books school libraries can carry, limiting flags in classrooms and usurping the superintendent’s authority.

The board also planned to cut all school library positions.

Critics of the board also are concerned about its lack of transparency. The board has never publicly voted on or announced its intention to remove the superintendent.

But it’s about policy as well

After the Somerset board failed to adopt a new English language arts curriculum this summer, state officials said the county would be in danger of losing money from the Blueprint for Maryland Progress if it didn’t take action.

The state had warned Somerset years ago that its curriculum for sixth through 12th grades was was poor and needed to be updated. The board declined to accept the new curriculum, piloted last school year, because the board had not personally vetted the reading list that went with it.

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.