U.S. District Court in Massachusetts Holds that a Teacher Can Be Terminated for Social Media Activity

November 10, 2023

Important Takeaways: The U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts held that a school district did not retaliate when they terminated a teacher for what she posted on social media prior to her employment with the district. The social media posts caused a disruption in the school environment, creating a legitimate reason for the school district to terminate her employement.

Facts: Kari MacRae filed a lawsuit against the Hanover Public Schools (the District) for a Section 1983 violation. MacRae alleged that the Defendants retaliated against her for exercising her First Amendment rights. The District moved for summary judgment.

MacRae has been a teacher since 2015. Before working with the District, she had a TikTok account with the username “NanaMacof4.” On that account, she liked, shared, posted, or reposted six memes that led to this case. The District alleges the memes contained themes of homophobia, transphobia, and racism. MacRae agreed that some could be viewed as derogatory towards transgender people. MacRae was also running for the Bourne School Committee around the time she started at Hanover and posted a video on TikTok expressing her view that critical race theory should not be taught in public schools and that students should not be taught they can choose whether or not they want to be a girl or a boy.

In 2021, MacRae was hired at the Hanover School District to teach math and business classes. The classes she taught included both African American and LGBTQ+ students. Around this time, he Bourne School Committee received a complaint from a community member regarding MacRae’s social media posts and they determined some of the positing violated the core values of the Bourne Public Schools. The Bourne Educators Association voted unanimously to make a public statement against MacRae’s comments. A local newspaper also published an article about MacRae’s TikTok and her role on the Bourne School Committee.

A few days later, the Hanover High School Principal met with MacRae and put her on administrative leave while they investigated her social media posts. At the same time, the Bourne School committee held a public meeting and multiple individuals discussed their concerns about MacRae’s social media activity noting that the posts did not create a safe, inclusive, or welcoming learning environment.

Two days later, the High School Principal convened a meeting between himself, MacRae, the Math Department Head, and MacRae’s union representative. After this meeting, the District issued a termination letter to MacRae, stating that her continued employment would have a significant negative impact on students learning at Hanover High School.

In November 2021, MacRae filed a lawsuit asserting a claim for First Amendment retaliation. The District moved for summary judgment. There is a three-part test to determine whether an adverse employment action violated their First Amendment free speech rights, and the court must consider the first two of those factors. The Court must determine whether the employee spoke as a citizen on a matter of public concern and balance the interests of the State in promoting the efficiency of the public services it performs through its employees.

MacRae claimed there are many factual disputes the court had to consider before reaching the balancing test. The court held that the issue of whether the video on TikTok concerning critical race theory played a role in MacRae’s termination did not present a disputed issue of material fact because her termination letter only referenced the six memes. The court also held that no reasonable fact finder could find that she was terminated because the administrators of the District did not like her social media posts, they were clearly concerned about disruption to the school environment.

The court held the District’s interest in preventing disruption is a legitimate interest. Despite evidence that other community members agreed with MacRae’s memes, the court held that there was also ample evidence of the potential for disruption to student learning. The posts were inconsistent with the District’s mission to promote tolerance and respect for human differences and could make students feel unsafe, unwelcome, or otherwise districted from learning. The District was entitled to terminate a public-facing employee who had taken a stance in direct contradiction to the District’s stated mission. Although little actual disruption had taken place at Hanover, the administrators were not merely speculating about the potential disruption as the speech had caused considerable controversy in Bourne. Summary judgment was granted in favor of the District.

In Hernandez v. City of Phoenix, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a police officer was wrongfully terminated for social media posts offensive to Muslim and Islamic culture. Because the police department could not show any evidence of actual or potential disruption to the officer’s job caused by the social media posts, they could not terminate him for those posts. The case was remanded for the district court to consider further whether actual disruption had taken place.

What this means: In Massachusetts, a school district can terminate an employee for their social media activity if it is against the values of the District and causes disruption in the learning environment. Also in the 9th Circuit, where Montana is located, actual disruption to the work environment or disruption in the ability to do one’s job must occur in order for a public employer to take adverse action against an employee for their off duty social media activity.

Information about the case: MaRae v. Mattos, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, September 25, 2023. Read it here.

As you consider these and other issues, we recommend you speak with your school lawyer or contact Bea, Megan, Beth, and Kevin at 406-542-1300 to discuss these issues.