07/24/2025
On June 26, 2025, the Harford County Public Schools Board of Education overrode the will of the community and its own committee and unilaterally banned its first book, Flamer by Mike Curato. This action directly contravened the determination of the BOE’s own Library Materials Reconsideration Committee, and reflects a disturbing ideological bias.
The book was challenged by a parent who has stated they did not read the book. The parent saw a Fox News article and filed a request to have the book removed. That request was taken up by the Library Materials Reconsideration Committee, the group charged by the BOE with evaluating challenged library books by considering the criteria outlined in the library’s evaluation and selection procedure.
The Committee – made up of 2 parents, 1 community member, 1 teacher, 1 administrator, 1 librarian, 2 students (grades 8–12), and 1 curriculum supervisor/specialist - voted to keep the book in high school and middle school libraries. They found that although the book does contain mature content, it is not gratuitous or pervasive and the book does serve an educational purpose. The parent appealed to the Superintendent, who upheld the Committee’s decision, then to the BOE.
The Harford County BOE voted 5–3 with 1 abstention to reverse the decision, calling the book unsuitable for middle or high school libraries. The decision states that “HCPS failed to critically evaluate the book on its age appropriateness, its extensive profanity, sexual situations and demeaning observations of females,” despite the fact that their own Committee addressed those issues in its evaluation.
The Reconsideration Committee conducted their review based on procedures developed to comply with the 2024 Maryland Freedom to Read Act, which prohibits the removal or exclusion of school library materials solely on the basis of an author’s background or partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval. At the core of the FRA is the idea that a small subset of people should not be able to dictate what books are made available in the school library to an entire community. Yet this is what just happened, and it happened over the thoughtful review of fellow citizens charged with evaluating challenged material.
But the BOE didn’t just ignore the will of the citizens of our County; they have put our students’ education in danger with this decision if it is found to violate the FRA. Violations of the FRA can lead to a loss of State funding, something Harford County cannot afford.
The NAACP believes that people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals deserve to see themselves reflected in books. The NAACP stands against book banning and supports books that reflect one's personal life stories, and histories of others in and beyond their communities. We add our voice to those already raised in calling for the reinstatement of Flamer by Mike Curato in our school libraries.
* For information on the legal implications of FRA, see: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4030&context=mlr
