Kevin Willmott’s sons withdrew from Bishop Seabury Academy two years ago in protest, but their tuition bill at the private school continues to mount.

Trustees of the Episcopal school east of Lawrence got a court order requiring Willmott to pay delinquent tuition and fees, plus interest. He’s paid $5,000, but still owes $20,000.

“We’ll never be able to get out of debt to these people,” said Willmott, a Lawrence independent filmmaker.

Willmott resigned as a Bishop Seabury trustee and his boys, Berrigan and William, dropped out to protest the ouster of Kris Pueschel as headmaster in 2001.

Legal action taken by the school is retribution for opposing Pueschel’s removal, Willmott said.

Willmott is director of the new film “C.S.A,” a faux documentary that offers a view of America in which the Confederacy won the Civil War.

Chris Carter, the current headmaster at Bishop Seabury, said Thursday that legal efforts to hold the Willmotts to a contract for tuition with the school were not a reprisal based on Pueschel’s departure.

“The school means no ill-will,” Carter said. “We feel like it should have remained a private matter.”

He said one other family had been sued for collection of unpaid tuition and others had reached financial settlements before filing of a lawsuit.

The school’s trustees traditionally void contracts for families that move out of commuting distance, Carter said.

Willmott said he would fight to keep the dispute in the public eye. He intends to protest in front of Bishop Seabury, 1411 E. 1850 Road, and at places where school trustees work.

“Seabury has sucked enough blood from us, and we will no longer suffer in silence,” he said.

Willmott is subject to a Douglas County District Court ruling in 2002, affirmed in 2003 by the same court, that garnishees his wages for about $900 a month. Willmott is appealing to the Kansas Court of Appeals.