Boston-area teacher is FIRED for speaking out against critical race theory on social media
A Boston-area teacher has been fired for speaking out against critical race theory on social media after a series of her contentious TikTok videos emerged.
Kari MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, was hired as a business teacher at Hanover High School, but was terminated just weeks later over posts she made about gender identification and racism education, the Cape Cod Times previously reported.
School officials told her in a letter that keeping her employed at the high school would have 'a significant impact on student learning.' Bourne teachers union and other members of the community were behind her resignation in 2021.
McRae claimed it was a 'violation of free speech' and filed a free speech lawsuit suing school officials and the Hanover school district.
After she lost the First Amendment case in Massachusetts U.S. District Court she appealed to the higher court, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, but on Wednesday lost her First Amendment case federal appeals case against the school district.
Kari MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, was hired as a business teacher at Hanover High School, but was terminated just weeks later
Hanover High School is a public school located in Hanover, Massachusetts
'Now on appeal, MacRae implores us to do some course correction and fix what she says the district court got wrong,' the appeals court wrote in its recent decision, the Boston Herald reported.
'After taking the time to carefully review both sides' arguments, however, we conclude that the district court got it right.'
Before MacRae was hired at the high school she had been campaigning for a seat on the Bourne School Committee and in her videos spoke about her agenda.
In one of the videos she said. 'So pretty much the reason why I ran for school board and the reason why I'm taking on this responsibility is to ensure that students, at least in our town, are not being taught critical race theory. That they're not being taught that the country was built on racism…
'They're not being taught that they can choose whether or not they want to be a girl or a boy.
'It's one thing to include and it's one thing to be inclusive. And it's one thing to educate everybody about everything. It's completely another thing to push your agenda.'
She added: 'With me on the school board, that won't happen in our town.'
MacRae had also shared, liked, posted and reposted several disputable memes on TikTok.
After she officially became an elected member of the Bourne School Committee she was hired at Hanover High School - teaching mostly LGBTQ and Black students.
The school, however, was unaware of MacRae's controversial social media posts.
After she was fired by the school she took the school district to court claiming that they had 'unconstitutionally retaliated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights.'
The appeal court cited that MacRae 'did not take her termination on the chin.'
School officials 'consistently testified that students would not feel safe or comfortable learning from MacRae, given the potential to perceive some of her posts as transphobic, homophobic, or racist, as per the appeals court.
In its ruling, the Appeals Court wrote that many students and teachers were aware of MacRae's posts and were discussing them.
They added: 'Given the circumstances both at Bourne and at Hanover, Defendants were eminently reasonable in predicting disruption would be forthcoming if they did not act.'
In response to the lawsuit, school officials said preventing disruption to the learning environment outweighed MacRae's First Amendment interests, and the U.S. District Court agreed with the school officials, as per the Herald.
MacRae, who resides in Bourne, Massachusetts, is a Republican running for a State Senate seat.
