Massachusetts

Bourne School Committee Member's TikTok Posts Draw Calls for Resignation

Kari MacRae, a school committee member in Bourne, Massachusetts, says she will not step down as teachers and parents criticize her controversial TikTok posts about racism and gender identification

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A school committee member in Bourne, Massachusetts, is under fire after posting controversial videos and memes on TikTok.

Kari MacRae's account is no longer viewable to the public, but screenshots and videos were provided to NBC10 Boston by teachers and parents. In the posts, she makes controversial comments about racism education and gender identification.

"I was horrified," said Alexandra Caldwell, a teacher at a Bourne elementary school.

Caldwell is a member of the LGBTQ community and a parent to a 9-year-old boy who is transgender.

"We were so blessed that his teacher handled it in an affirming way, and to think that Kari MacRae is having teachers not do that is terrifying to us," Caldwell said.

A destructive social media challenge is quickly growing in popularity with more than 94,000 videos posted in Connecticut in the last few months, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.

Caldwell, the Bourne Educators Association and others packed a school committee meeting this week to call for her resignation. At the meeting, MacRae said she would not step down and said she feels she is being unfairly targeted for her political views.

Reached by phone, MacRae said she did not wish to comment at this time. Several school committee members told NBC10 Boston that she apologized during an executive session.

"It's not a right or left issue. It's not a political issue," said Paul McMaster, the vice-chair of the school committee.

McMaster said even if they wanted to, the school committee would not have the power to force her out.

"People are only added or removed by voters in the town, so it would have to be a special recall election or not," he said.

For now, he and the superintendent said all they can do is try to make sure there is still a welcoming environment in all of Bourne schools.

"We have a responsibility to make sure our students know that we are allies who believe in each child and value each child," said Superintendent Kerri Quinlan-Zho.

Many in the community said they would still like to see action.

"Even if she does resign, even if we're able to get her out, that damage has been done," Caldwell said.

After getting millions of followers on the social media platform TikTok, Charli and Dixie D'Amelio are breaking into traditional media. Dixie's working on a recording career and the whole family is on "The D'Amelio Show," a reality show now on Hulu. The whole family sat down with NBCLX's Tabitha Lipkin to talk about what viewers can expect.
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