At the recent meeting of the D220 Board of Education we heard public comment surrounding social media posts made by a D220 educator. One of the speakers referenced the recent death of Charlie Kirk in making his public comment.
This, of course, piqued our curiosity as to what the public comments surrounded and we awaited a response to the comments from Superintendent Winkelman, President Ficke Bradford, or other BOE members. As we’ve seen in the past, Ficke Bradford picks and chooses what she will allow Winkelman to respond to, and we were left with no comment from the BOE this night. So, we did a little digging ourselves.
It appears from posts captured by LibsOfTikTok, a D220 educator who identified herself on her Instagram as a 1st Grade Teacher at Barrington 220 School District, responded to a post about United States President Donald J. Trump, stating: “Makes me so sick. God I hate him, why can’t he die? That’s the only way to end this insane cult that has taken over our country.”
https://x.com/libsoftiktok/status/1966252902139519334?s=46
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, we’ve seen educators receive reprimands and even lose their jobs for such divisive and inflammatory comments on their social media pages. These discussions have appeared in the public, as school board meetings should, given that they exist to serve the public that elected them.
During this time we’ve received several inquiries related to an educator, Benjamin Fillo, teaching at Barrington High School, but the one located in Barrington, Rhode Island.
Apparently, several mistook the Rhode Island school for District 220. Well, we can report to you that there is one clear and glaringly distinct difference between the Rhode Island school, it’s school board, and teachers union, and that’s when its educators and board members violate the rules, they take action and they do so publicly so the public trust is not violated. In this instance, Educator Fillo, who also served as the NEA-Barrington Union Co-President, was put on administrative leave and removed from his Union position.
Nahum Mitnik, the other co-president of NEA-Barrington, spoke at Rhode Island’s school board meeting on Sept. 15, stating:
Tonight, I want to share with you the sentiments I conveyed to our members on Friday afternoon. We as a union believe it is important for you, and for the Barrington community as a whole to hear from us directly.
As you know, our colleague and co-president made a statement on his personal TikTok account that has receive widespread negative attention. We are deeply disappointed by his actions. Let me be clear: We unequivocally condemn violence in all its forms. Violence has no place in our schools, our district, or our society.
It would be refreshing to have such transparency from our own Barrington D220 Board of Education and Superintendent Winkelman. Here, we have an educator who has violated school policies in making this violence charged comment while publicly identifying herself as a D220 educator and there’s been no discussion with the public on the actions being taken. But, then, as we have seen with President Ficke Bradford‘s and Superintendent Winkleman’s refusal to address the many violations made by Board Member Erin Chan Ding since running for the 52nd District, we are, sadly, not surprised.
Our hope is that the residents of this community have the boldness and courage of those of our namesake in Barrington, Rhode Island. There will be no action without the public’s request for it.