Bourne school board member will remain if also elected to state senate
BOURNE — School committee member Kari MacRae, withRepublican Party support, is setting her political sights on Beacon Hill via a 2022 race against Democratic state Sen. Susan Moran.
Moran, a Falmouth lawyer elected to the Plymouth and Barnstable District seat last year, enjoys a strong Falmouth base and Democratic supporters say they are confident about her reelection prospects.
MacRae kicked off her senate campaign in late November, saying she is running on the need for transparency in school curriculum information and accountability in state government, the need to cut spending and the lament that parents concerned about what their kids are being taught in school have “had enough.”
MacRae, of Bournedale, also said she will remain on the Bourne school board if elected to the state senate.
“Definitely,” MacRae said in a recent interview. “My career path is done as a teacher for right now. It will take me a few years to work on that. But I want people to know I’m committed to the (school) board. I want people to know I’m not a racist or bigot or transphobe. I just want to be active and let people know there are things that should not be taught in the schools.”
In September, the Bourne teachers union and other members of the Bourne community sought MacRae's resignation from the school board after a TikTok video emerged of MacRae making comments about gender identification and racism education. MacRae refused to resign.
One of two candidates who ran uncontested in May for two seats on the school committee, MacRae recorded a TikTok video of herself behind the wheel of a car on what appeared to be Election Day, saying that she was running to oppose an agenda from being pushed on students.
“So pretty much the reason I ran for school board and the reason 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,” MacRae said in the video.
“So," she added, "they're not being taught that they can choose whether or not they want to be a girl or a boy.”
MacRae said she was fired in late September from a Hanover High School math teaching position over her social media postings. This has gained her statewide GOP support.
MacRae says she enjoys a “cordial” relationship with the school committee, though she also says her requests for agenda items are rejected.
“I put information out there that I think the public should know about," she said. "Open and honest. Let people make decisions about basic information. But my relationship with the superintendent is fine.”
MacRae said she understands it is “a big leap” from a school committee seat to the state senate.
“I’m running to ensure transparency and accountability,” she said. “It’s as simple as that. I will stay on the school committee. I feel like I’ve battled through a few things. There’s a lot of missed information. And a lot of politicians who say one thing to get themselves elected and then change course. I’m frustrated with that sort of hypocrisy as well.”
There has been talk about the possibility of a recall effort against MacRae from the school board. In August, she voted against a mask mandate in Bourne schools and said that during her campaign she will oppose vaccine mandates.
Bourne Town Clerk Barry Johnson said a November date was reached that allows for a recall start. He said two individuals have explored recall options with him in recent weeks.
Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Nov. 29 that claims MacRae was fired from her teaching job in retaliation for social media posts that objected to the inclusion of critical race theory in schools. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, seeks damages against Hanover Superintendent Matthew A. Ferron and high school principal Matthew Mattos, claiming they violated MacRae's First Amendment free speech rights in connection with the TikTok video posts.
The Bourne school committee, meanwhile, has worked to dampen any notoriety surrounding MacRae and any impact on student learning.
Board members during a meeting Dec. 1 said they were gratified by sentiment at the recent Massachusetts School Committee Association conference in which they were advised to avoid “misinformation based on polarizing discussions” emanating from a public fearful about what the pandemic will deliver next.
MacRae says MASC is too closely aligned with state education department guidelines and that the Bourne school board similarly embraces MASC when it comes to programs, many of which are already in place throughout the district.
“We should remove from MASC,” she said. “It’s a scary thing. We should take information from MASC as guidance and suggestions about what we (as a district) should be doing and have some open discussion about it. Not just quickly embrace it.”
No comments:
Post a Comment