Barrington School Comm. Appoints Investigator to Review Teacher’s Social Media Post on Kirk

Barrington School Comm. Appoints Investigator to Review Teacher’s Social Media Post on Kirk

Acting Barrington Public Schools Superintendent Christopher Ashley announced Monday night that he has formally recommended the appointment of an independent investigator to conduct a thorough and impartial review of a personnel matter involving a teacher’s recent alleged social media activity. 

The Barrington teacher is identified as Benjamin Fillo. In the video, he calls Charlie Kirk a “piece of garbage.” Kirk was murdered last week while giving a speech at a university in Utah.

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GoLocal reached out to Fillo for comment, and he did not respond.

“As Acting Superintendent and a former teacher, I take seriously our responsibility to uphold professional standards, while ensuring fairness, due process, and transparency,” said Ashley. “In light of recent events, I recommended that the School Committee appoint an independent investigator to conduct a thorough and impartial review of the incident currently under discussion. Because our district’s legal counsel has worked closely with the teacher in focus here through union negotiations, it is important we engage a third-party investigator in this process. This step will allow the facts to be gathered objectively, consistent with district policy and law, and will help ensure that the outcome is credible as our district moves forward. Once our investigator’s analysis is complete, I will work closely with our legal counsel on any action taken.”

Following the Superintendent’s recommendation, the Barrington School Committee voted tonight to appoint Attorney Matthew Oliverio of Oliverio & Marcaccio LLP to lead the investigation.

“The Barrington School Committee has voted to accept the Acting Superintendent’s recommendation and hereby appoints Attorney Matthew Oliverio to conduct this investigation,” said TJ Peck, Chair, Barrington School Committee. “We want to be very clear: this action is about process, fairness, and transparency. No conclusions have been drawn. Our focus remains on providing a safe and respectful learning environment for our students and staff while this independent review moves forward. We ask our community to allow the investigator to complete their work without speculation or distraction.”

"The teacher remains on administrative leave while the investigation proceeds. The district’s top priorities are student safety, uninterrupted learning, and maintaining a respectful educational environment. Because this is an active personnel matter, the district will have no further comment on specifics until the investigation concludes," said the Barrington Schools.