A public school teacher in Barrington, Rhode Island, cruelly mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination in videos he posted online. As a concerned citizen and parent, I wanted to know what he’s teaching in the classroom. Instead of answers, I received a whopping bill from the school district for $117,000.
The district’s message couldn’t be clearer: Sorry, but the public doesn’t have a right to know what we’re teaching. But I’m not taking no for an answer. And I have the law on my side.
It’s not surprising that the school district is clamming up. Barrington High School social studies teacher Benjamin Fillo shared videos calling Charlie Kirk a “piece of garbage” and sneering, “this is what happens…bye, Charlie.” In another clip, for example, he even declared that “Charlie Kirk is not in heaven right now.” And where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Soon, students began coming forward, saying politics had crept into Fillo’s classroom long before the remarks about Charlie Kirk. It made me wonder what else Fillo—who also served as co-president of the local National Education Association chapter—was teaching to students in Barrington. So, I did what any concerned parent or citizen has the legal right to do: I filed a public records request with Barrington Public Schools, asking for his curriculum materials and select emails from his work account.
I made the request simple. All I wanted to see was the social studies curriculum materials and emails containing a single word: “Trump.” While I assumed this would take only a few hours of keyword searching, and I was willing to pay a reasonable fee (as the law allows), the district’s response was nothing short of hostile: a staggering price tag of $117,130.50, as if knowing what their children are being taught were something parents had to buy for the price of a luxury car or a downpayment on a house.
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They claimed it would take more than 7,700 hours—320 days of continuous work at 24 hours a day—to review 157 courses taught over 15 years across three systems. They even said that just one year of searches for “Trump” in Fillo’s emails produced 789 results.
The outlandish fee was an absurd, punitive number clearly designed to deter me while pretending to uphold the law. That’s not just wrong—it’s an abuse of power. A law meant to ensure openness means nothing if school leaders can twist it into a tool of obstruction to hide their embarrassment.
Public school employees are public servants. They are accountable to taxpayers. It should never cost six figures to see what one social studies teacher is doing in the classroom. Barrington Public Schools’ outrageous fee effectively weaponizes Rhode Island’s Access to Public Records Act, turning it from a transparency tool into a shield against scrutiny. Make no mistake—it’s being used this way because administrators hope parents won’t find out what’s really going on.
In an effort to hold the district accountable, I turned to the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network, a team of pro bono attorneys who defend parents’ right to transparency from school districts. My attorney sent a letter demanding that Barrington either drastically reduce its inflated estimate or release the records at no cost.
As the letter noted, since Fillo’s comments became public, he’s been placed on administrative leave, removed from his union leadership position, and is under investigation by the Barrington School Committee. The public interest could not be clearer.
Parents have a right to know what’s being taught to their children without being charged exorbitant fees. You can’t shift that kind of burden to the public just because you’re a disorganized or defensive district—or worse, afraid that one of your employees might embarrass the school.
This isn’t about one teacher—it’s about who really owns the public schools and whether our democratic institutions remain accountable to the taxpayers who fund them. I won’t let the district wait me out, wear me down, or make me pay for them to show their work.
Editor’s Note: The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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