Ragosta report outlines how:

School brass failed parents

By John Howell
Posted 4/5/16

The long-awaited release of the Ragosta Report – named for attorney Vincent Ragosta, who completed an investigation of the school administration – finds that three top-level personnel dismissed …

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Ragosta report outlines how:

School brass failed parents

Posted

The long-awaited release of the Ragosta Report – named for attorney Vincent Ragosta, who completed an investigation of the school administration – finds that three top-level personnel dismissed in a few hours a well-documented complaint that a Gorton teacher made inappropriate sexual drawings on the arm of female student and let the teacher off with a reprimand.

The report also finds that a second mother who brought a similar matter involving her daughter to the attention of now retired Superintendent Richard D’Agostino in an email a month later did not get a reply, and that the situation was not investigated by police because it was not brought to their attention until last spring. According to Ragosta’s report, the first mother did not involve police when the incident took place Oct. 4, 2013, because she feared her daughter would be “bullied” for causing trouble for a popular teacher.

Even following a police investigation, which was launched last spring, parents of the girls involved – there were a total of three – chose not to press charges.

It is likely the entire situation would have remained under wraps had the teacher, Mario Atoyan, not been charged with first- and second-degree sexual assault involving a 15-year old North Kingstown in an unrelated case, and D’Agostino’s comments about Atoyan after his arrest. The superintendent defended the teacher in a television interview, claiming Atoyan was well liked by his peers and students and that he had a good track record.

It was then that the second mother sent a copy of her email to D’Agostino written more than a year earlier to Channel 10. The earlier incident, which started with one girl and escalated to three cases, raised questions as to why the administration hadn’t removed Atoyan. School Committee members Jennifer Ahern and Karen Bachus pushed for an investigation, and the committee retained the services of Ragosta.

Last May, Ragosta gave a verbal report of his findings in two executive committee meetings. Transcripts of the sessions –including the questions posed by the committee – were made, but not released to the public. Efforts of the Beacon to obtain them under the Access to Public Records Act were denied by the committee and appealed to the Attorney General.

Members of the City Council also wanted to see the report, and last fall subpoenaed the committee. The committee objected, but the Superior Court ruled in favor of the council.

The Beacon and the online news service Warwick Post then requested the report from the council. Finally, the Attorney General found the report – with redactions removing the names of parents and students – was a public document. It was released last Wednesday and is available for viewing on the Beacon website.

This may not be the end to the prolonged effort to uncover what happened and get a behind-the-curtain view of how top-ranking school administrators ran the system.

On Friday, Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur said he would pursue a council subpoena to obtain all the transcripts of Ragosta’s investigation, including interviews with not only D’Agostino but also then director of secondary education Dennis Mullen, then director of human services Rosemary Healey, Gorton Principal Jeff Taylor, and parents of the girls involved.

Ladouceur said from what he has seen, “Ragosta did an excellent, unbiased job.” He feels, however, there’s more, and “stuff is getting swept under the rug.”

“We’re responsible and I think it is very interesting to see the rest of the story,” he said.

Also, last week the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island said it would represent the Beacon and the Warwick Post if Healey, as represented in letters to the two news outlets by her attorney, sought to silence report information about her.

Principal exonerated

The report exonerates Principal Taylor and, in fact, records his astonishment of the administration’s handling of the incident, while it underscores the finger pointing between D’Agostino, Mullen, and Healey as to who was responsible and where the system failed.

In his May 11, 2015, report to the committee, Ragosta details how the story changed between the three administrators and the speed at which they sought to dismiss it with a reprimand.

“No case is perfect,” reads the transcript of Ragosta’s comments to the committee. “Every case has challenges. But you have had the time to cultivate these witnesses and get them ready. So I think this was rushed. I think it was unfair. But, thankfully, you had a principal that did a great job. This guy acted, this Mr. Taylor acted more prudently and with more concern. Admittedly, he didn’t have a lot of experience, but he acted more prudently and more fastidiously than the people in the administration. And I find it hard to comprehend that an allegation of – allegations of this nature were basically dismissed. There was a rush to judgment. I think your administration should have been much more aggressive in terms of exiting this man from the school based on this evidence.”

On the matter of evidence, Ragosta concludes there is no doubt that Atoyan drew a penis on the forearm of one female student – the name is redacted from the report – along with the words “penis head” and the word “I” and a picture of a heart followed by the word “science.” In response to a question posed by committee member Terri Medeiros, Ragosta said the mother took a picture of her daughter’s arm, which she saved and showed to Taylor. On a second student’s arm, Atoyan drew feces and wrote the word “poop.”

“Unfortunately, if I were legal counsel at that time [Healey was both director of human services and legal counsel at that time], I would have said, get the mother to send the picture, I would have said, get the mother to send the picture electronically, download it, print it, stick it in the file,” the transcript of Ragosta’s remarks reads.

According to the transcript, the first mother – who knew Taylor and other staff at the school – immediately called Taylor after hearing her daughter’s story and taking a picture of her arm. She went to Taylor’s house to discuss what happened, and Taylor told her “we can’t just let this go.” A school investigation was launched on Oct. 7, 2013, and on that same day Taylor told her Atoyan was keeping his job. The mother was never interviewed by any members of the central administration.

“She felt betrayed by central administration,” Ragosta told the committee.

He also says Taylor received no direction from D’Agostino, Mullen, or Healey.

Reprimand questioned

Ragosta goes on to tell the committee: “And he [Taylor] said he knew the parents of these two young girls were extremely upset. He thought that a reprimand was very strange. He said if he had independent judgment to exercise on his own it would have been stronger. But, in the end, he relied on the advice of legal counsel, Ms. Healey. And he said that he deferred to the professional judgment, even though I don’t think it was right.”

Ragosta finds that Mullen knew of the incident because of emails with Taylor but can’t conclude when it was on D’Agostino and Healey’s radar.

Ragosta tells the committee, “So, again, I can say to you that we have Mullen and D’Agostino pointing the finger at Healey, saying she made the decision. She’s the lawyer. We deferred to her. And we have Healey saying, no, that’s not true.”

Toward the end of the transcript, Ragosta gives D’Agostino’s reasoning for taking the matter no further than a reprimand.

“Superintendent D’Agostino said that Healey said the stories kept changing, that [name of student is deleted from the transcript] recanted. He said it was clear that it was a fabricated story, so that the reprimand was based on the legal opinion.”

As to how the incident and its treatment by the administration came to light, Ragosta reads to the committee from the email he received on May 15, 2015, from the second mother. The transcript does not distinguish Ragosta’s words from those he is reading from the email.

It reads: “She indicates, I felt that I had taken the necessary action as a parent by alerting school officials about the inappropriate behavior and expected that our concerns would be thoroughly investigated and the proper action taken by the administration I did not feel as though I needed to hire an attorney when as a taxpayer, I’m already paying the salary of a city attorney.”

It goes on to read, “I went to the media as a last resort in 2015 after contacting both the Warwick and North Kingstown police departments to make sure someone knew Mr. Atoyan did not have the pristine employment record being portrayed by Mr. D’Agostino.”

D’Agostino and Mullen retired last July. Healey is still being paid under her contract through June, but is no longer working at the department. Taylor remains principal at Gorton, which closes this year. He was recently named principal of Bain Middle School in Cranston. Atoyan is slated for a pre-trial conference May 6 on his arrest relating to the North Kingstown incident.

Comments

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  • smh

    truly criminal...these three (and anyone else found to have helped with the cover up) should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law

    Tuesday, April 5, 2016 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    It wasn't the brass who failed, it was the parents. If people took more time to find out what is going on in the schools, then incidents like this would not happen. Shame.

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Report this

  • JohnStark

    Sorry idiot, you're wrong on this one. The Brass is hired to see to it that kids are safe, first and foremost. They failed to do what they were hired to do. Parents have a reasonable assumption that their kids will be safe from adult sexual predators at school. When these parents found out what had happened, they took steps that were entirely reasonable. In hindsight, should they have made a police report? Perhaps. But it would have taken even more involvement from the kids, who didn't want any more trouble. They are, after all, kids. The parents did what most of us would have done, and that should have been more than enough. Please read the report. You will certainly not conclude that "It wasn't the brass who failed...".

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Report this

  • Justanidiot

    Semper vigilans. No excuses.

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Report this

  • Justj1969

    JustanIdiot you picked the right screen name, must be one of the dunces, or out to get a rise. I'm one of those parents and I can assure you I'm not done. I pay taxes to live in a city with good schools for a reason. I expect that my child should be able to attend them safely and we expect normal childhood issues to arise. Is it only me that feels that a system that expels students for the tiniest infraction of their rules allows grown paid men to draw on children? To me it was never acceptable, and will never be. Some of you read the report and the articles in a newspaper, I lived them. And still the facts are not straight, we DID not choose not to press charges. We were not advised that we should. Im a mother, a hardworking woman, not an elected individual, and certainly not a lawyer. My bad I didn't realize I needed to be one or hire one to raise a child in Warwick.

    Thanks SMH and JohnStark for your support.

    Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Report this

  • WarwickfortheKids

    On behalf of families and students in Warwick, I would like to extend heartfelt and tremendous gratitude to the parents who came forward and exposed a long term culture issue within the Warwick School Department. The dismissive attitude of concerns and lack of competence by leadership is something that many families have experienced over the past few years but many could not imagine this culture would extend to this level of safety for our children. This situation was horrific and something no child/family should ever experience but the end result is the best thing to happen within our schools in a decade. The families involved should know that their experience has made a very significant difference in the lives of all Warwick families and will hopefully lead to a much brighter future for all. Thank You!

    Thursday, April 7, 2016 Report this

  • Justj1969

    Thank you Warwickforthekids, I just wonder is it enough? All parties walk away, unscathed? Except for us? I live with a Daily concern, did I do my best to protect my daughter? I would like to clarify, no one ever suggested I press charges at anytime. And presumed innocent till found guilty, but if these incidents were taken more seriously maybe no one would be in the situation they are. I feel it unjust that the administration left their weight on our shoulders.

    But thank you for your kind words and making me feel like we made a difference.

    Best

    Tuesday, April 26, 2016 Report this

  • veritas

    Healey has engaged in cover-ups of criminal behaviors in the WPS for years. She specialized in denying the rights of female students and employees.

    May all you have done to others return to you a thousand fold Rosemary.

    Friday, June 3, 2016 Report this