Nominee pulled over social media posts; CCPS Board then rejects Family Life roster over process concerns

The Carroll County Board of Education voted down the membership roster of its Family Life Advisory Committee, 1–4, at its Aug. 12 meeting, minutes after board member Kristen Zihmer withdrew her own appointee over Facebook posts an advocacy group and critics said showed a pattern of racist language.

But that controversy is not what sank the vote. Zihmer's appointee, Krista Schultz, was already off the roster by the time Board President Steve Whisler called the question, so her posts don’t explain why the roster failed.

Instead, the debate on the dais turned to another appointment — Kathryn Hart, named by Whisler without going through the committee's formal application process. Board member Tara Battaglia explicitly announced she would vote "no" on process and transparency grounds, while Zihmer and Vice President Patricia Dorsey pressed leadership on the fairness of bypassing the 100-person applicant pool.

Whisler cast the lone vote in favor, tabling the matter until September without objection, and left the committee, which reviews instructional materials for the district's health and family life curriculum, unseated two and a half weeks before school opens.

The board unanimously and without discussion approved the rosters of its other six advisory councils during the same Wednesday, Aug. 12 meeting.

The Family Life Advisory Committee roster on the table on Wednesday listed 32 members and was, in the document's words, "year two of a two-year commitment," meaning those on it were already serving.

Each of the five board members individually appoints five of them: two elementary parents, one middle school parent, one high school parent, and one at-large community member. Whisler also sits on the committee as the board's representative, with Malveaux as his alternate.

Battaglia moved to approve the roster, and Zihmer seconded. During the discussion, Zihmer announced she was withdrawing her at-large appointee, Krista Schultz, days after CCPS Parents for Honest Education, an advocacy Facebook page, circulated screenshots and comments it said showed a pattern of racist language associated with an account named "Krista Leigh Schultz."

Zihmer framed the decision around her faith. "My Christian faith teaches me that every human being is created in the image of God, and that God shows no favoritism," she said, "that one day people from every nation, tribe, people, and language will stand together before Him. Racism, whether directed toward Black people, white people, or anyone else, is fundamentally incompatible with those beliefs. We can disagree on policy, politics, and ideology, but we should never reduce a person's worth or character to the color of their skin. I want to be very clear: I will listen."

Zihmer acknowledged her own vetting had missed the material. "While I did vet my appointments for this committee, I acknowledge that my review did not go back seven years, and that as a result, I did not uncover some atrocious material," she said. "That said, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to those who did bring it to light just yesterday afternoon" — Aug. 11, the day before the meeting. "Ultimately, we're united in wanting the most qualified and ethical individuals serving in roles where they can best support our children in meaningful ways. In light of this information, I'm rescinding Krista Schultz's name from consideration." Zihmer said she would put forward a new name from the applicant list in September.

Zihmer did not say who brought the posts to her attention, whether it was the CCPS Parents for Honest Education Facebook post specifically, or what her original vetting consisted of. The board also referenced emails they received, and several comments were submitted and posted to the public comment section of the CCPS website.

Whisler then raised a point of order: the committee is "an appointed committee," individual board members "have the right to withdraw" their own appointments, and no amendment to the pending motion was required. He said he had "already talked with counsel," who "concurs with my assessment."

In its post, CCPS Parents for Honest Education shared screenshots it said came from Schultz's account, with Facebook timestamps indicating they were roughly 6 and 7 years old, though no date was listed for when the screenshots were taken.

Responding to a friend's photo of a group in "gangster"-themed costumes, one post read, "I do look semi black in that though... it'll add fuel to the fire. Apparently I'm more black than she is and it makes her mad. Unfortunately I don't receive any of the perks." Another included a meme reading "I ONLY DATE BLACK GIRLS BECAUSE... I HATE MEETING FATHERS," which the account shared with the caption "My personal favorite of the week," telling a user, "your rude and totally entertaining posts are safe here." A third reads: "It was a good rap song.... colored folks listen to it." A fourth post, shown below, criticizes Hillary Clinton and, without naming them, appears to reference Barack and Michelle Obama, calling her 'gorilla face.'

Schultz has served as vice chair of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee since being elected to the committee's current four-year term in 2022, according to the party's website. The Official 2026 Gubernatorial Primary Election Results for Carroll County from the Maryland State Board of Elections show Schultz was re-elected in June 2026 to another four-year term on the Republican Central Committee.

Schultz responded publicly on Wednesday, before the CCPS board meeting, on the Facebook page "Krista Schultz Carroll County Republican Central Committee," writing that "the crazy left in Carroll County is threatened" and that "everyone who knows me, knows I am an equal opportunity hater and I go on rants occasionally." She referred to a "Halloween picture of me as a Soprano's character" and a "screenshot of a valentine's meme war," writing that "if you have to go back 15 years and post" those, "I guess I am doing something right."

Schultz did not specifically dispute the posts the group circulated: "Yes, I was wild, partied way too much, and made unfavorable decision in my younger years. However, I have taken accountability for my actions, learned from my experiences, matured, and I don't take any of it back because it has made me who I am today." Her post did not name the Family Life Advisory Committee and did not address the racial content of the material the group circulated.

Her account of the timeline does not match Zihmer's. Schultz described the material as 15 years old; Zihmer said her review "did not go back seven years," a figure that matches the timestamps in the screenshots. Westminster Wire could not independently date all of the original posts, though at least one appears to be from a period leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Westminster Wire emailed Schultz on Wednesday night after the board meeting, asking about Zihmer's decision, the posts themselves, and whether she still serves as the county GOP's vice chair. She did not respond. This story will be updated if she does.

Battaglia thanked Zihmer for her statement and said she seconded it, but drew a line around it. "It is important as a board that as a body there be full transparency and accountability," she said. "I do not want to trample on anyone's First Amendment rights. Those that applied last year are volunteers."

Then came a warning. "Be very careful what you wish for," Battaglia said. "If the public wants this board to vet volunteers with past and present social media posts, the same should apply to CCPS employees. We cannot ask someone to be removed from a position that makes recommendations for curriculum and have employees remain for doing the same exact thing." Many people, she added, "need to review their social medias of their past or present posts that can be seen as insensitive."

Battaglia then raised a separate objection to the same Family Life Advisory Committee roster: at-large member Kathryn Hart, appointed by Whisler, never went through the application process. "Miss Hart did not apply last year for the application process," Battaglia said, "and this board has made precedents before where if there was a vacancy, we went with the previous applications from the year prior. So I am asking that someone else be picked from the applicants we had received last year."

Whisler declined. "If I'm not mistaken, I selected her, and I do not wish to rescind her name," he said, adding that he had checked with staff and "apparently there is no written requirement that somebody be in the pool that has applied."

Dorsey then asked, "Can you repeat what you just said? Did you say that they did not have to be a part of the pool?" Told that was correct, she followed up: "So we could select other people whether they applied to be on the committee or not?" Whisler said that "appears to be" the case. "I didn’t know that was a practice," Dorsey said.

Superintendent Dr. Cynthia McCabe explained why the seat was open, saying a previous at-large member "stepped off the committee after year one of a two-year membership.” Because the open slot fell within Whisler's allotted appointments, Whisler selected Hart to fill the remainder of the term, noting that he had "checked with staff" to confirm it was allowed. Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Shockney noted that written guidelines were "silent on this scenario in which there would be a vacancy midyear [of] the two-year term," with no explicit process on the books for filling a midterm vacancy.

Board member Kristen Zihmer pressed on precedent grounds, noting the fairness issue. "We have a hundred people who applied. If I understand, there's not a policy. It doesn't feel fair to those hundred people who took the time to submit," Zihmer said. Dr. McCabe noted that while written guidelines are silent, past practice was consistent: "Usually, in the past, when a seat opens, the person is selected from those who have applied." Dorsey added, "I didn't think we had another option. I thought we always had to refer to that list of folks who had applied."

Battaglia then announced her opposition: "In honesty or transparency, I'm going to be voting no on approving the Family Life Committee."

Whisler then responded at length, saying he wanted to "piggyback off what Miss Battaglia said" and calling it "really unfortunate that people do things in their past, and say things that they may have said when they were younger."

Framing the issue around faith, forgiveness, and free speech, Whisler acknowledged that expression has boundaries. "I'm a man of faith and a man that believes in forgiveness and redemption," Whisler said. "And I'm also a man that believes in free First Amendment rights of free speech. But there are limits — no question."

He then turned his critique directly toward some of those who had written to the board demanding Schultz's removal.

"It is really a shame how we have a small group of people who insist on character assassination, cancellation, cancel culture, people in glass houses throwing stones," he said. He said he had read many of the emails, that "many of those people that have sent emails, first of all, many did not even reside in our county," and that "it was a network of activists responding to a call." Westminster Wire has not independently reviewed the emails or verified the senders' locations.

He said some of the writers "have said such horrific things about me personally, calling me a swinger, calling me a wife beater, calling me someone that has been homophobic and racist to students. Just ridiculous accusations," he said, "to rile up the pack to get them to send in emails to influence, without holistically looking at a person's total character, total service."

Whisler also made a broader claim about the committees themselves: "We have many people on these committees that have social media activity that's just absolutely horrendous and sickening." He did not name anyone or say whether he had raised it with staff. He said he respected Zihmer's right to withdraw her appointee and asked colleagues to respect his right not to withdraw his.

Battaglia followed, broadening her own point about selective scrutiny. She said staff members and community members have "said some pretty disgusting things" in reaction to political violence, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the shooting attempt against the president, and that she knows people who have lost jobs over comments they made. Westminster Wire has not verified those characterizations.

"People have a right to say what they want and how they feel," Battaglia said. "However, when you start going after people and you yourself sit there and go, oh, no, I'm safe, I'm sorry, I've got to draw a line on certain things. And that is infuriating to me." Battaglia added: "I'm sorry to the individuals that are feeling the heat. It sucks. Social media is a dumpster fire."

Whisler called the question on approving the Family Life Advisory Committee's membership, with Schultz's name already withdrawn. It failed 1–4, with Whisler casting the lone vote in favor, meaning every other member voted against a roster that no longer included the appointee at the center of the racism controversy.

Whisler tabled the matter to September without objection. Dorsey said the committee would have to come back "because we do want this to be a committee, a board-appointed committee that we do have in place."

The board's next regular meeting is 4 p.m. Sept. 9 at 125 N. Court St. in Westminster.