Report details mounting pressure placed on Portsmouth student

Full investigative report on Nathan Bruno’s 2018 death released by school district

By Jim McGaw
Posted 6/19/19

PORTSMOUTH — On Feb. 6, 2018, Nathan Bruno told his father he planned on skipping gym class at Portsmouth High School the next day.

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Report details mounting pressure placed on Portsmouth student

Full investigative report on Nathan Bruno’s 2018 death released by school district

Posted

Editor's note: This story has been edited for clarity since it was first published.

PORTSMOUTH — On Feb. 6, 2018, Nathan Bruno told his father he planned on skipping gym class at Portsmouth High School the next day.

Nathan was a popular sophomore who loved sports and made everyone around him laugh, but at that time he was experiencing a “complete social breakdown” due to mounting pressures placed on him by teachers, administrators and fellow students, according to his father, Rick Bruno.

“The fact that he would not go to gym class on Feb. 7 indicates that his anxiety about the situation was so severe such that a 15-year-old could not handle it,” states a portion of an investigative report commissioned by the School Committee which was made public this week.

Nathan never made it to school, as he took his life not long after having that conversation with his father.

The 118-page report, dated June 6, 2018 and written by Providence-based attorney Matthew T. Oliverio, was released by the school district Monday as a result of a public records suit brought by the Newport Daily News. Previously, only an “executive summary” of the report had been made public, but Superior Court Judge William E. Carnes, Jr. ruled on June 14 that the document is a public record. 

The report contains redactions made by Judge Carnes to protect the identity of some students and parents as well as more sensitive material, and is based on interviews with three dozen people. It can read in full here.

Started with prank calls, texts

Nathan took his life after rumors had spread around school that he was one of the students responsible for making crank phone calls and texts starting in December 2017 to the school’s football coach at the time, Ryan Moniz. (Some of the messages, which often contain profane language, are reproduced in the report.) The coach had first contacted police in his hometown of Jamestown to investigate, and they informed him in early January that Nathan was a suspect.

In his introduction to the report, Mr. Oliverio said he was directed by Superintendent Ana Riley to investigate the facts and circumstances relating to a complaint filed by Nathan’s father.

“In summary, Mr. Bruno contends that Head Football Coach Ryan Moniz, Principal Joseph Amaral and Athletic Director (Stephen) Trezvant intentionally or unintentionally placed an undue amount of mental and emotional stress upon his son in the weeks and days leading up to his tragic death, causing the 15-year-old Nathan to feel isolated, shamed and bullied to the point where his only escape from the pressure was to end his life on February 7, 2018,” the report states.

According to the summary of allegations that Mr. Oliverio laid out:

• Nathan was reassigned to another physical education class in early January (2018) with no notification given to Nathan’s father or guidance counselor. (Mr. Bruno said he didn't learn of this until the day before his son's death, during a Feb. 6, 2018 phone call with Mr. Moniz.)

• Through “improper supervision,” the school “permitted Coach Moniz to pressure both Nathan and members of the football team to reveal the identity of other students who were involved in the prank behavior by threatening to resign as head football coach.” The threat of assistant coaches resigning was also made, “when they had no intention of doing so.”

• Members of the football team were compelled “to make an unexpected visit to Nathan’s home (on Feb. 6, 2018) to pressure him to reveal the identity of other students who were involved in the prank behavior.” 

• The coach first agreed to meet with Nathan to accept an unconditional apology, but then reversed course and agreed on the meeting “only on the condition that he reveal the name of the football players involved in the prank.”

• PHS permitted “the coach and administration to involve members of the school community in an active police investigation concerning conduct that occurred off school hours and property in order to satisfy the selfish desires of a coach to know the identity of perceived dissident members of the football team.”‘Well-adjusted and well-liked’

Based on interviews, the report states that although Nathan had a few behavioral problems in class, he appeared to be a well-adjusted, happy boy who had more than a dozen friends. Nate had one psyche evaluation for attention deficit disorder, which also revealed no depression, anxiety or suicidal ideation, and showed he had healthy social skills, his father said.

Everyone whom Mr. Oliverio interviewed for his report, the attorney said, was utterly shocked to learn that Nathan had taken his own life. Simply put, they never saw it coming.

Mr. Moniz, who previously had been exchanging messages with Mr. Bruno in hopes of resolving the situation with Nathan, was “distraught” after learning of the student’s death. At one point, a student assistance counselor recommended that Mr. Moniz receive counseling.

“He needed an oxygen mask first,” she’s quoted by Mr. Oliverio in his report.

Many kept in dark

According to the report, many PHS staff members did not learn of the harassing texts and phone calls Mr. Moniz had received until it was too late. The day of Nathan’s death, his guidance counselor, Erin Phillips, was informed about the harassment by the coach, the report states. 

“She was completely caught off guard and surprised and asked aloud stating ‘WTF! Why didn’t you let me know?’” the report reads. “She was angry and upset because as Nathan’s counselor, she would have reached out to him and offered support or intervened.”

According to Ms. Phillips, the entire incident took place outside the classroom and was “dumped at the feet of the football team.”

“You cannot put pressure on a 15-year-old to rat out friends,” the report quotes Ms. Phillips as saying.

Findings and recommendations

In his report, Mr. Oliverio concluded that only Mr. Moniz and Mr. Trezvant had violated portions of various district-wide policies, such as the Coaches’ Code of Conduct and the R.I. Educator Code of Professional Responsibility. 

“Since Mr. Moniz did so in a more egregious fashion, it warrants that he not be considered for appointment as coach of the varsity football team for the upcoming 2018-2019 school year,” Mr. Oliverio states in the report. (Mr. Moniz was removed as coach last year, but still teaches at PHS.) 

As for Mr. Trezvant, the attorney recommended that he “be issued a strongly worded letter of reprimand at a minimum, for his knowledge of and participation in the team meeting on Feb. 6, and his failure to intervene and halt the meeting knowing the purpose behind the meeting.”

Mr. Oliverio also recommended the School Department “conduct an audit and assessment of its current policies, procedures and practices relating to safe schools environment, district-wide positive and preventative behavior/social-emotional interventions and support and restorative practices,” as well as take other actions to prevent a similar tragedy from happening in the future.

Portsmouth High School, Nathan Bruno

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.