Baltimore County school board member Maggie Litz Domanowski apologized and sat down with Muslim faith leaders at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, weeks after a Facebook post she engaged with drew condemnation from Muslim civil rights groups and state lawmakers. The post featured Linus from Peanuts holding a sign referencing MAGA, women's rights and Sharia law, and Domanowski had commented on it that it was “not wrong.”
The visit came after the Council on American-Islamic Relations publicly condemned the post, saying it promoted false claims about Islam, according to CBS News Baltimore. CAIR had offered to teach Domanowski about Islam, and she accepted, leading to Wednesday's tour of the Catonsville mosque and a sit-down discussion with mosque leaders about the harm the post caused. During the visit, a student spoke about being bullied because of her faith, per the same report.
“I apologize when someone comes to me and I can tell that I've hurt their feelings and I did something wrong, and I can take that in myself and apologize for that,” Domanowski said, according to the outlet's report. She added, “We all need to be a little nicer to each other,” and said she plans to apply what she learned to her work with students and to addressing bullying in Baltimore County schools.
A Formal Complaint and Statehouse Pressure Preceded the Apology
Domanowski's apology and mosque visit did not happen in a vacuum. Before she spoke publicly, the Shia Muslim Foundation filed a formal complaint with the Baltimore County Board of Education, arguing that anti-Muslim rhetoric from public education officials directly exposes Muslim students to harassment and exclusion, including hijab-wearing students and practicing Muslim families across the county.
The Maryland Legislative Muslim Caucus, chaired by Delegate Sean A. Stinnett, also issued a formal statement calling on Domanowski to apologize, warning that stereotyping Muslims contributes to intolerance and makes Muslim Americans less safe, according to a statement posted to Facebook. CAIR Maryland had initially called on Domanowski to remove the post, apologize and commit to supporting Muslim students, or resign, before welcoming her public apology and helping arrange the mosque visit as an educational step. CAIR leaders described the meeting as a first step toward building understanding in Baltimore County, saying addressing stereotypes requires collective effort and accountability.
Political Stakes Loom Over a Board Seat Won by 419 Votes
The controversy lands squarely in the middle of a competitive re-election fight. Domanowski is up for re-election to the Baltimore County Public Schools board in November, facing challenger Kelli McClelland after winning her District 3 seat in 2022 by just 419 votes, one of the narrowest margins on the board, according to Ballotpedia. Because Baltimore County's June primary was canceled after no more than two candidates filed for any single district seat, Domanowski and McClelland advanced directly to the November general election without a primary contest to test voter sentiment first.
The Baltimore County Board of Education is made up of 12 members — seven elected by district, four appointed by the governor, and one student member — and all seven elected seats are on the ballot this November. This is not the first time Domanowski has clashed with board leadership: in August 2025, the Maryland State Board of Education overturned a local censure against her, finding that Baltimore County school board leadership had committed an abuse of discretion during a decorum dispute tied to budget questioning, as Hoodline reported in an earlier story on the board's $2.5 billion budget fight.
A District Already Facing Scrutiny Over Academic Outcomes
The current controversy also arrives as Baltimore County Public Schools faces broader scrutiny over performance. Official state data released in January showed the district's four-year high school graduation rate dropped to 84.3% for the Class of 2025, its lowest level in 14 years, with the sharpest declines among Hispanic and multilingual students, according to state figures reported by FOX Baltimore and detailed in Hoodline's coverage of the district's graduation rate slide. That decline came even as BCPS general fund spending reached nearly $2 billion.
Community Leaders Frame the Visit as a Starting Point
The Islamic Society of Baltimore, located in Catonsville, operates the Al-Rahmah School and serves as one of the region's primary Islamic community hubs, hosting daily prayers, K-12 schooling and community outreach. Choosing the site for Domanowski's tour placed the apology in a setting with deep roots in Baltimore County's Muslim community.
Community leaders framed the visit as a positive step toward reconciliation, but political opponents and advocacy groups continue to view the episode through the lens of district leadership and the approaching November election. With Domanowski's seat decided by fewer than 500 votes four years ago and no primary buffer this cycle, how voters weigh the apology, the mosque visit and her broader record on the board could shape the outcome in District 3.
