MADERA – Yesterday a little old lady posted on Facebook, “I'm proud to be white” with a photo of the controversial “Confederate Flag” in the background. This is an activity that happens thousands of times every day across the county, but what sets this post off as different is this little old lady is the president of the Madera County Board of Education.

This posted graphic by board president Sara Wilkins, who serves in the Area 2 seat representing portions of Raymond-Knowles, Bass Lake, and Yosemite Unified School Districts was shared by one of Wilkins’s Facebook friends (@SierraMagyar) on Twitter. The Tweet caught the attention of news-upstart GVWire in Fresno and is causing some backlash towards the elderly woman and Madera County Superintendent of Schools Cecilia A. Massetti.

Massetti told GVWire on Tuesday afternoon that the social media post did not reflect the views of the Board of Education or her office. The county school head said that while she has not been able to verify if the post was made by Wilkins, “It’s unfortunate that Mrs. Wilkins made the comment,” the Superintendent said.

The full message continued with “I bet no one passes this on because they are scared of being called a racist.” That would have been a good bet since the post exploded in the Facebook and Twitter universe. Wilkins’s son Eric Wilkins, who now runs the family business at 1348 West Herndon Avenue in Fresno, declined to comment on the post.

Since this post has been made public, numerous individuals have told Big Valley News that the grandmother of seven and great-grant mother of three no longer lives in the Oakhurst area but has moved down into Fresno County either near the Fort Washington Golf Course or the Copper River Ranch Golf Course to be closer to her son’s home on East Chelsea Drive in North-East Fresno.

If Ms. Wilkins no longer resides in Madera County, then she is no longer qualified to serve on the Madera County Board of Education. An inquiry has been made to Madera County District Attorney Sally Moreno as to if any crimes have been committed in the county election filings since Wilkins’s last election.

Wilkins was first elected to the board in 1989, her last election was in 2018 and her current term expires in 2022. She was appointed as a commissioner to the Madera County First Five board of directors for the unincorporated Mountain areas of Madera County from 2000-2013. She also served as president of the California County Boards of Education in 2003. Ms. Wilkins is a 1961 Brigham Young University graduate with a degree in sociology.

Ms. Wilkins has been unavailable for comment since this post made news Tuesday.

Over 750 people have signed a petition on CHANGE.ORG to have Mr. Wilkins removed from her elected post. While this petition has no legal standing, people are rallying against this board member. Marlise Agular wrote, “I am fed up with racist white people who have a platform degrading and looking down on the real people who help run Madera, the Latinx (Latinx is the gender neutral term for 'Latino') and other people of color.”

UPDATE: Dr. Cecilia A. Massetti, Madera County Superintendent of Schools, has received the following statement this mornibg from Mrs. Sara Wilkins, “After 47 years of service to the children of my community, I have decided to retire and resign my position on the Madera County Board of Education.”