Our Community is Not Divided

By. Maggie Litz Domanowski

(The opinions are of Maggie Litz Domanowski and do not reflect the opinions of the Baltimore County Board of Education.)

(NottinghamMD.com edited their article on 8/29/2025 to included quotes from this post)

Over the past two years, I have formed friendships and alliances with individuals I would never have never personal politics with, let alone engage in a conversation about politics with. I've even found an ally in someone I might have previously considered 'public enemy number one,' and possibly more than one. (They know who they are, and I'm quite sure they would agree that the feeling is mutual.) This was accomplished by setting aside personal politics and focusing on what was best for all students in my role as an elected member of the Baltimore County Board of Education.

Therefore, when I noticed this being referenced in an article published today on the NottinghamMD.com website, I felt compelled to assist others in grasping the true events:

"Community response to the censure was divided. The Baltimore County Parent and Student Coalition launched a petition to revoke the censure, claiming it punished Domanowski for doing her job. Conversely, a group called Concerned Community Members for Civil Discourse supported the board’s initial action, citing disruptive behavior at meetings."

The Community's response was not split, or at least not as split as the "Concerned Community Members for Civil Discourse" would suggest.

On March 25, 2025, just hours before the Baltimore County Board of Education was set to convene, an email was sent to all board members. This email aimed to inform them about 1,008 emails received by the "BOE account" up to that date. Of these, 566 opposed and 442, seemed to support resolution 2025-02 censure. However, the email failed to disclose that at least 151 of the supporting emails originated from fake addresses as part of a fraudulent campaign. Even more concerning is that, at the time, detecting these fraudulent emails would have been impossible.

The central email address for the Baltimore County Board of Education is BOE@bcps.org. This address is provided as the public's main point of contact for all board members. However, none of the board members have direct access to this account. Each email is intercepted and filtered by an employee appointed by the central office.

(*I wish to emphasize that anything implied here does not reflect any ill intent or wrongdoing by any employee responsible for managing the BOE@bcps.org account. I have no basis to believe, nor am I suggesting, that this person should be held accountable. I am merely informing the public about the standard procedure for emails sent to the BOE@bcps.org account.)

"333 Emails"

The email sent on March 25 marked the first time board members were made aware of the 333 emails directed to the BOE via a Ujoin.co campaign titled “A Call for Civility and Accountability - I Support Resolution 2025 - 02.” After multiple attempts and several days, I eventually obtained a copy of these emails. Each email was identical, which is not uncommon for campaigns like this. However, what initially stood out to me was the timing.

• 16 received 3/22/2025

• 296 received 3/23/2025

• 19 received 3/24/2025

In comparison, another campaign opposing the censure, and consisting of 566 emails at that same time, never exceeded 100 emails in a single day. Again, this is not necessarily unusual for such a campaign but. most of the 566 opposing emails included personal notes or comments from the senders, while none of the support emails did. Keeping this in mind, I gathered all the email addresses from both campaigns and sent my own personal reply to thank them for their engagement with the board of education governance and for prioritizing students' best interests. This is where things appeared abnormal, at least to me.

Out of the 556 email addresses that were gathered from the opposition campaign, only 19 were returned to the sender as "undeliverable" or "invalid." While 151 emails were returned to the sender, for the same reasons, for the "supporting" campaign.

Nearly half of the 333 emails generated from the same campaign were from addresses that either did not exist or were undeliverable. I had my suspicions, but tech savvy enough to come to a conclusion. So I sought answers and here's what I learned.

The email campaign "A Call for Civility and Accountability - I Support Resolution 2025 - 02" was not a legitimate campaign. Shortly after contacting Ujoin.co, the campaign was immediately terminated, and the host account was banned for breaching the company's terms of use. All this information was presented as evidence, but was dismissed by the state board at the Baltimore County Board of Education's request for being "irrelevant" and "immaterial" in my appeal.

Why am I sharing this now? I am sharing it because it's crucial for the Baltimore County community, and all communities, to realize that we are not as divided as some might have us believe. When it comes to our core values and the things that truly matter, we are not as far apart as you might be led to believe or might think.

Our personal politics do not define whether we are right or wrong.