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Never leveled criticism of Warwick School Committee

Posted Thursday, October 8, 2015 10:52 am

Editor’s note: The following remarks from attorney Vincent Ragosta in response to a Sept. 29 letter from Democratic mayoral candidate Richard Corrente were forwarded for publication by Jennifer Ahearn, chair of the Warwick School Committee.

To the Editor:

Last evening I conferred with School Committee Chairwoman Jennifer Ahearn about the commentary of Richard Corrente in his published open letter to her. As any good citizen should be, Mr. Corrente is understandably concerned about the deeply disturbing allegations of mistreatment of students and parents, which underlie my investigation. Permit me to succinctly clarify and contextualize the substance of the brief conversation with Mr. Corrente and set the record straight.

First, I confirmed much of what had long since been in the public domain, e.g. that I was engaged by the Warwick School Committee (WSC) to independently investigate and assess the school department central administration’s handling of allegations related to two young female students and teacher Mario Atoyan. Second, I confirmed for Mr. Corrente that my law firm completed its investigative process within the time constraints set by the WSC, and that I verbally reported my blunt and unvarnished findings to the WSC by May 21 of this year. Third, in response to Mr. Corrente’s inquiry as to the existence of a written report, I informed him that the reporting was conveyed verbally in two meetings with the WSC, one on May 11 and the other on May 21, both of which were recorded by Allied Court Reporters, which in turn produced written transcripts.

At no time in my conversation with Mr. Corrente did I level any criticism of the WSC, nor was any confidential or privileged information revealed to him. To the extent that is inferred from Mr. Corrente’s, letter, this communication should serve to disabuse all of any such notions. In fact, I applauded the aggressive and proactive approach of the WSC and Chairperson Ahearn in pushing for an inquiry into Atoyan’s in-school misconduct predating his arrest on unrelated sexual assault charges. Throughout my firm’s inquiry, I had the full, unfettered and timely cooperation of Chairperson Ahearn, as well as all other WSC members. Each of them demonstrated a genuine resolve to seek the truth about Atoyan’s actions and, the central administration’s responses.

In sum, any quotations attributed to me which are suggestive of criticism of the WSC are simply untrue.

Vincent F. Ragosta, Jr., Esq.