Barrington teacher at center of controversial Charlie Kirk post to return to work
BARRINGTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Barrington High School teacher Benjamin Fillo will return to work December 1 following a period of paid administrative leave after his controversial TikTok post in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death.
Fillo was notified of Interim Superintendent Robert Mitchell’s decision on November 20, according to a statement from the Barrington School Committee.
Fillo was placed on administrative leave on September 15 following his September 11 post in which he called the recently deceased Kirk “a piece of garbage.”
In the third party investigative report into the post, Fillo was noted to have said that his comments were a “visceral reaction” and a “lapse in judgment.”
In the opening of his report, attorney Matthew T. Oliverio said in part:
My charge is to determine whether those posts—commenting on the recent death of Turning Point USA’s founder, Charlie Kirk—violate any Department policies, or other rules, laws, and/or regulations governing such conduct by a certified educator in the State of Rhode Island and employed by the School Department, and if so, whether any protections afforded Mr. Fillo under the First Amendment outweigh any such violations.
The conclusion of the report said in part:
Based on the foregoing evidence, this investigator concludes that Mr. Fillo did violate Department policies and rules and regulations governing his professional responsibilities as a certified educator in the State of Rhode Island when he posted two videos on his personal TikTok account without maintaining any privacy settings, thus making his account available to all members of the viewing public, including students, families, supervisors, and colleagues of the Department. Mr. Fillo admitted that before posting these videos, he did not consider how his postings might impact those within the School Department community who may have shared different views than him.
