A Cape Cod, Massachusetts, teacher who was fired for speaking out against critical race theory on social media lost the appeal of her First Amendment lawsuit this week.
According to the Cape Cod Times, Bourne School Committee member Kari MacRae was hired as a business teacher at Hanover High School in 2021 but was fired just weeks into the job over posts she made on her personal social media account.
School officials reportedly told MacRae that keeping her employed at the high school "would have a significant negative impact on student learning."
Claiming the termination was a violation of her First Amendment free speech rights, MacRae filed a lawsuit against the district and school officials.
After the Massachusetts District Court sided with the district and school officials, MacRae filed an appeal with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals but lost on Wednesday, according to the Daily Mail.
"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, according to the Boston Herald. "After taking the time to carefully review both sides' arguments, however, we conclude that the district court got it right."
Before she was hired at the high school, MacRae had been campaigning for a seat on the Bourne School Committee and spoke about her motivation to run in one of her videos.
"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," MacRae said. "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," she said. "And it's one thing to educate everybody about everything. It's completely another thing to push your agenda."
"With me on the school board, that won't happen in our town," she added.
Following her termination, MacRae took the district to court claiming school officials had "unconstitutionally retaliated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights."
The appeals court wrote that school officials consistently testified that students would not feel safe or comfortable learning from MacRae and that her social media posts could potentially be perceived as transphobic, homophobic or racist.
The 1st Circuit also wrote that MacRae's posts were a topic of discussion for many students and teachers at Hanover.
"Given the circumstances both at Bourne and at Hanover, Defendants were eminently reasonable in predicting disruption would be forthcoming if they did not act," the appeals court wrote.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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