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Former Hanover teacher, Bourne School Committee member fired over controversial TikToks loses federal court appeal

The Bourne School Committee member's lawyer said they plan to ask the Supreme Court to take up their case.

July 10, 2024

A former Hanover teacher who claims her First Amendment rights were violated after she was fired from her job for posting controversial TikToks lost her appeal in federal court.

Kari MacRae, a Bourne School Committee member, was fired in 2021 after a month of teaching at Hanover High School. Despite efforts to remove MacRae at the time, she is still set to serve as a Bourne School Committee member until 2027.

MacRae’s TikToks commenting on race and gender identity first drew concern from the Bourne community. Teachers in the town wanted her to step down as a school committee member, a position she won in an uncontested race a few months before the controversy.

Hanover Public Schools, including Superintendent Matthew Ferron and HHS’s principal Matthew Mattos, became aware of the posts and determined they “would have a significant negative impact on student learning,” according to the ruling from the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals. The TikToks were posted before she obtained the teaching position.

What did the TikToks say?

MacRae’s TikToks were posted to her account @nanamacof4. They were memes, according to the decision, that ridiculed Dr. Rachel Levine, a transgender woman and United States Assistant Secretary for Health, commented on children’s gender identities, and downplayed the role of racism in U.S. history.

“I’m taking on this responsibility 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” she said in a TikTok she posted about her election to the committee. “So they’re not being taught that they can choose whether or not they want to be a girl or a boy.”

In these screenshots (L-R): MacRae disparages Dr. Rachel Levine, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services; a post plays on the ‘birds and the bees’ phrase to comment on gender identity; and the last is a repost by another account of something MacRae shared, showing how a man might pretend to be a woman to get ahead, disparaging transgender people. – Screenshots provided by Alexandra Caldwell and Alexandra Stanton

What did the judge decide?

The federal judge ruled in favor of the district court and agreed that MacRae’s termination was valid due to the potential disruption resulting from her posts outweighing her free speech interests.

“Bourne, a town less than an hour’s drive away from Hanover, and its school system became embroiled in controversy over the exact same speech at issue here, and the evidence of disruption in Bourne was extraordinary,” the judge wrote. “Defendants were eminently reasonable in predicting disruption would be forthcoming if they did not act.”

MacRae’s lawyer Michael Bekesha, who works with conservative foundation Judicial Watch, said they plan to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case.

“Kari MacRae and Judicial Watch are disappointed with the First Circuit’s ruling because the right of government employees to have freedom of speech must be confirmed,” Michael Bekesha said.

Leonard Kesten, a lawyer for Hanover Public Schools and the superintendent and principal, told Boston.com they were “pleased that the Court of Appeals recognized that the actions of the superintendent and the school district were always designed to protect the students.”

MacRae is currently running for state senate. She did not return a request for comment.