Residents push school board on ‘Flamer’ ruling days after judge called ban illegal

Four days after a judge ruled Harford County’s school board broke the law by banning a graphic novel from school libraries, residents showed up Monday night to push the board on what happens next.

The Harford County Board of Education held its regular business meeting Monday. At least three of the five residents who spoke during public comment addressed the ongoing fight over “Flamer,” a 2020 graphic novel that has been at the center of a two-year legal battle.

What happened in court: Harford County Circuit Court Judge Yolanda Curtin ruled October 22 that the board had illegally removed “Flamer” from school library shelves. She found the board violated both state law and the First Amendment — the constitutional protection for free speech — and ordered the book to stay in libraries. In her ruling, Curtin wrote the board had “inserted its own opinions into the decision, and thus acted arbitrarily and illegally.” The case marked the first time a court interpreted Maryland’s Freedom to Read Act, a state law enacted in 2024 that governs how schools handle book challenges.

What residents said: David Fabe, held up pages from the book and described specific and explicit content to board members. He called “Flamer” “a how to book on suicide” and told Superintendent Dr. Dyann Mack directly, “you have the authority to take this book out.” His microphone was cut when his time ran out.

Christina Lanoka argued the process for reviewing book challenges is stacked against parents. She said the reconsideration committee — the group that reviews complaints about library books — “is skewed on the side of the school so that no book can be removed from the library shelves.” She called for parent-weighted review committees and said books with “crude language cursing explicit sexual content, whether that be heterosexual or homosexual” do not belong on school shelves. “These are not banned books,” she said. “We just want thoughtfully curated school library selections appropriate for our innocent children.”

Dominic Heath, who is running for the District B school board seat, said he was in the courtroom when Judge Curtin issued her ruling, told board members the case is bigger than the book. “Contrary to what people believe, this is not about the book itself,” Heath said. “It raised questions about established policies, procedures and the responsibility of those governing our public schools.” He called on the board to be open about how much the legal fight has cost taxpayers and what steps it plans to take going forward. “When procedures are disregarded and decisions are made in backroom, you’re going to lose the community’s trust,” he said. “Accountability is not a punishment. It’s an opportunity to learn, improve and prevent similar situations in the future.”

How the board got here: A parent filed a formal complaint in November 2024 asking the school system to remove “Flamer,” citing sexual content, profanity, and concerns about age-appropriateness. The parent said the book “plants seeds in the minds of children.” A nine-member reconsideration committee reviewed the book and voted unanimously to keep it in high school libraries. The superintendent agreed with that recommendation.

The board overruled both in June 2025, voting 5-3 in a closed session to remove the book. The board described it as “pervasively vulgar,” citing “extensive profanity, sexual situations and demeaning observations of females.” That closed-door vote later drew scrutiny over whether it was properly recorded in board minutes.

The Maryland State Board of Education reversed the ban later in 2025, finding the county board’s decision was arbitrary, unreasonable, and illegal. The county board then went to circuit court to try to reinstate the ban. Judge Curtin rejected that effort last week.

What the board has not said: The board made no motion and took no vote related to “Flamer” at Monday’s meeting. Board members have not publicly addressed how much the legal fight has cost. No board member announced plans to appeal Judge Curtin’s ruling, though the question has circulated on social media.

About the book: “Flamer” is a semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Mike Curato. It follows a 14-year-old Filipino American boy at Boy Scout summer camp in 1995. The book won the Lambda Literary Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature in 2021.