MONROE, N.C. (AP) - A public school board member in North Carolina has resigned from his position after posting "insensitive" images on social media, a school official said.
Union County Public Schools' Board member Travis Kiker emailed his resignation to the board's chairperson on Monday, writing he will step down to avoid being a "distraction" following the backlash for his Facebook posts, board chairperson Melissa Merrell said in a news conference.
Some of the images posted on Kiker's personal Facebook page, and captured by The Charlotte Observer, mocked Black NASCAR Driver Bubba Wallace.
Wallace had prompted a federal investigation into whether he was the target of a hate crime after a rope that resembled a noose was found in the speedway of his garage stall at the Talladega in Alabama. Federal officials have since said the rope was not a hate crime targeting Wallace.
School officials received a large number of calls about Kiker's social media posts before board members saw the images on Thursday and "determined that they were insensitive and inappropriate," news outlets quoted Merrell as saying.
Kiker said in a Facebook post that "attacks" on his family during the backlash also led to his decision to resign, according to the Observer. His term on the school board was scheduled to end in 2022.