Nicole Solas Threatened With Suit by NEA Affiliate After South Kingstown School Board Records Requests
Rhode Island parent Nicole Solas was threatened with a lawsuit by the National Education Association's state affiliate after she filed public-records requests and spoke at South Kingstown school board meetings about curriculum. She sued and reached a settlement; the ACLU criticized the union's tactics as retaliation for protected speech.
Beginning in spring 2021, Solas submitted roughly 200 public-records requests to South Kingstown Public Schools regarding curriculum and equity policies and spoke repeatedly at school-board meetings. The National Education Association of Rhode Island threatened litigation to block her requests; the school committee also voted to consider suing her, drawing an ACLU rebuke as a chilling response to a citizen exercising rights under the state's Access to Public Records Act. Solas, represented by the Goldwater Institute, filed suit against the school committee and NEARI. In 2023 the school committee settled, agreeing to release records and pay attorneys' fees. NEARI ultimately did not sue.