Gorton investigation nearly complete

Ragosta looks at handling of inappropriate teacher action

John Howell
Posted 5/21/15

The investigation of a Gorton teacher who drew a penis on the arm of one female student and feces on another and how school administrators dealt with the situation is largely complete, although it …

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Gorton investigation nearly complete

Ragosta looks at handling of inappropriate teacher action

Posted

The investigation of a Gorton teacher who drew a penis on the arm of one female student and feces on another and how school administrators dealt with the situation is largely complete, although it may be some time, if it all, that it will be released to the public.

Attorney Vincent A. Ragosta, who the School Committee retained to conduct the investigation, said Monday he gave a verbal summary to the committee in executive session on May 11. He was scheduled to complete his report this Monday, but that did not happen. The meeting is posted for 5:45 this evening at Toll Gate High School and again will be held in executive session.

“I’m looking at a couple of follow-up issues,” Ragosta said.

He is doubtful there will be a written report because of the “tight time frame” to complete the investigation and the volume of material he has assembled. There was a court stenographer present for his presentation to the committee, so in essence there is a written report. A stenographer was also present for the six interviews he conducted. Transcriptions have been made available to the committee. He said the mothers of the two girls were interviewed, along with the school principal, Jeffrey Taylor, and the administrators he reports to. Ragosta also talked with Col. Stephen McCartney to glean what police had learned from their investigation of the incident that came to light following the arrest of science teacher Mario Atoyan.

Atoyan was arrested on charges of first and second degree sexual assault of a 15-year-old female that allegedly occurred last June in North Kingstown. That incident is unrelated to what happened at the school, but when Superintendent Richard D’Agostino said Atoyan was respected by students and his peers and there had been no prior issues with Atoyan, reports surfaced to the contrary.

That provoked an outcry that escalated into Councilwomen Camille Vella-Wilkinson, Kathleen Usler and Council President Donna Travis calling for a vote of no confidence in D’Agostino as well as Dennis Mullen, director of secondary education, and Rosemary Healey, director of human resources and compliance. School Committee member Karen Bachus joined with the councilwomen in the call for the council vote.

Vella-Wilkinson’s resolution for a vote of no confidence was on Monday night’s City Council docket, but the councilwoman said she planned to hold it until the results of Ragosta’s investigation were known. She did not know the contents of Ragosta’s report to the committee, even though that had taken place a week earlier.

Ragosta said he did not know what portions of his investigation the committee planned to disclose, although he expects certain information such as that shared by the mothers of the girls would be kept confidential.

School administrators weren’t in attendance for Ragosta’s report on May 11, nor are they expected to be at tonight’s meeting.

“We’re not allowed to be there,” Healey said yesterday.

On Monday Ragosta said issues of student safety are critical and what constitutes inappropriate touching is a concern. Without naming individuals, he said the system failed to respond “aggressively and deliberatively.” He said as a parent and grandparent, he feels proper response to incidents of this nature is of paramount importance to student safety.

School Committee Chair Jennifer Ahearn doubted there would be a written report. She expects the committee will issue a “public statement as to what we’ll do.”

Asked about Ragosta’s verbal report on May 11, Ahearn said that the committee had access to the transcripts and documents Ragosta assembled. She said copies were purposely not distributed so that everything would be held in one central location.

“There is a lot of personal information and it can’t be released,” she said.

Ahearn said the committee didn’t have the opportunity for a question and answer session with Ragosta nor “to discuss among ourselves.”

Ragosta said he hoped his findings “serve as a lesson learned and is valuable to the committee.”

Ragosta estimated he has put 85 hours into the investigation. He was retained at $285 an hour and calculated since starting on April 3, the investigation has cost the department about $25,000.

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  • JohnStark

    If I have it right, it has cost Warwick taxpayers about $25,000 to investigate whether an incident was handled properly by those paid to do so. A complete report of this investigation has not been completed and, if a written report is generated at all, it probably won't be released to the very people who paid for it. And somehow, that's OK??!!

    If Mr. Atoyan did, indeed, "...draw a penis on the arm of one female student and feces on another" (as implied by Mr. Howell's declarative statement above) and remained in the classroom, a minimum of four people should be fired, if not charged. If a teacher suspects that a child has been abused and does not report it, the teacher is liable. This is no different. If you still do not understand why parents are avoiding the Warwick public schools like the plague, simply review the above article for a summary of the utter chaos and complete void in leadership that has befallen the system.

    Thursday, May 21, 2015 Report this

  • georgecarver

    The $25,000 poop and penis lesson learned. Golly gee I guess its not OK to write on a kids arm and pretend it doesn't really matter.

    Another shining example of a continuing lack of leadership and accountability in Warwick. This is outrageous, hurtful and embarrassing stuff. But it just seems to keep going on with our school committee. I am glad Camille has stepped forward. I hope she continues to push for decency and accountability so as to get the many nonsensical facets of Warwick's school administration corrected and in the light of day.

    Thursday, May 21, 2015 Report this

  • Thecaptain

    JohnStark is correct, but then again, we all knew that this in fact would be the outcome. Just as the closed door deal to say goodbye to Peter Horoshack was sequestered from the people who paid the bill, this will be no different. This should not come as a surprise to anyone as this is the standard operating procedure for Warwick. Crumbling schools, failing curriculum, non compliant fire codes, declining enrollment and teachers with questionable skills is what Warwick has to offer in education.

    The no confidence vote is nothing more than grandstanding by the three council stooges. Lets not forget that two of the stooges, Wilkinson and Travis, completely derailed the vote to close a school last year, only to spend $200K+ to get the same answer. Who paid for their stupidity? The Warwick taxpayer. By the way, these are the same two fools that circumvented the city charter and the city council, hired an "auditor" that did not have the minimum required background, and grandstanded calling the men on the council sexist when they demanded a review of the matter. Only to have the "auditor" quit a year later with no traceability of her work product in a year. They should be the last individuals calling for a no confidence vote on anyone, except of course themselves.

    Saturday, May 23, 2015 Report this