UPDATE: On Thursday morning, Judge Gallo decided that the Ragosta report was not subject to attorney/client privilege or a work order doctrine, and has ordered its release pending redaction of parents and student names. The report should be made public within the next two weeks.

Original story below.

Superior Court Associate Justice Bennett R. Gallo is expected to issue a bench ruling this morning that could resolve whether the so-called “Ragosta report” is made public.

Gallo will rule on the City Council’s subpoena to release the report detailing how school administrators responded to allegations that Gorton Junior High School science teacher Mario Atoyan drew a penis on the arms of two girls. Those incidents didn’t come to light until after Atoyan was charged in March with first- and second-degree sexual assault of a North Kingstown girl in June 2014. Atoyan has been suspended without pay.

In an effort to determine what school administrators knew about Atoyan and what actions they took, if any, the School Committee retained attorney Vincent Ragosta to investigate the matter. That action came following a Warwick Police investigation that concluded when parents of the two Gorton students chose not to press the case.

In an interview Tuesday, City Solicitor Peter Ruggiero explained the school committee has argued to keep the report sealed on the basis of attorney/client privilege.

“We don’t think attorney/client applies at all,” Ruggiero said. Rather, he said, the report details the “who, when, where and why” of what happened.

“The mayor agrees with the release; the public should know,” Ruggiero said.

While the judge could come down on either side, Ruggiero also thought Gallo could selectively release portions of the report. He noted that Ragosta gave an oral report to the school committee on two different occasions. A transcript was made of both of those closed meetings. In addition, Ragosta provided the committee with the transcripts of interviews he conducted with school administrators and the mothers of the two girls. In his investigation, Ragosta also spoke with police and reviewed their work.

Ruggiero thought it possible Gallo could exclude some of Ragosta’s report from release with the deletion of some names and sensitive information.

Andrew Henneous, legal counsel for the school committee, said yesterday if the report is to be released, he believes it would be limited to the transcripts of what Ragosta told the committee, not the transcripts from Ragosta’s interviews.

Henneous said the committee felt it important to maintain the confidentiality of the students and administrators, and the committee’s position is that the report falls under the protection of attorney/client privilege.

“He [Ragosta] was not just an investigator, he provided substantial legal advice to the committee,” Henneous said.

Ruggiero doubted either side would appeal Gallo’s decision. He said the standards to be met by an appeal “are very high” and would need “to show a clear error of law.”

The Atoyan incident fueled a City Council no-confidence vote in three school administrators, two of whom have since retired, and actions calling on the school committee and the mayor to appear before the council.

At Monday’s council meeting, Ed Ladouceur (Ward 5) docketed a resolution under unanimous consent to have the mayor and members of the school committee come before the council at 6 p.m. on Nov. 23. Ladouceur said he is looking for information on the Ragosta report. At Councilman Joseph Solomon’s request, Ladouceur expanded his motion to include the mayor.

“This is not to put the mayor on the carpet by any means,” Ladouceur said yesterday.

Also at Monday’s meeting, on a motion made by Camille Vella-Wilkinson (Ward 3) the council voted to hold off until after today’s court ruling issuing a subpoena to have Gorton Principal Jeff Taylor come before the council. The council is looking for Taylor to outline actions taken following the Atoyan incident.

Atoyan is scheduled for a pretrial conference on Dec. 11.