Raucci report covered in ink

SCHENECTADY - The Schenectady City School District's legal department has released its 190-page report on a former staff member accused of terrorism and intimidating employees.

However, it's a big blow to your right to know because 90 percent of the report is blacked out so you can't read it.

About a month ago NewsChannel 13 filed a request to get the report on Steven Raucci under the Freedom of Information Law. Before that the district was unwilling to let us take a look.

The report they provided Thursday is virtually all blacked out leaving you in the dark.

Raucci is the former facilities manager charged with several counts of arson and terrorism. Police say he was planting explosives in an attempt to frighten and terrorize his enemies.

The district has been pretty tight lipped since Raucci's arrest in February. But it hired a consultant to find out if Raucci intimidated or harassed employees and, if he did, who in the district knew about it.

It appears the district doesn't want anyone to know what's in the report.

"You got to be kidding," attorney Ray Kelly said while flipping through the pages covered with black ink.

NewsChannel 13 asked Kelly to take a look at the report. He deals with FOIL requests every time he gets a new case.

"There is so much blacked out. You have no context," he said after leafing through a few pages.

"I have never seen a report ever that fails to comply with the letter and spirit of FOIL like this does," Kelly added.

There are some portions of a few pages that are not redacted. From those we learn the consultant, Rachel Rissetto, spent over 65 hours in the district doing interviews with 35 people, including several current and former members of the board of education and Superintendent Eric Ely. The interviews lasted anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours.

She also examined 10,000 e-mails sent to and from Raucci. Several of those are included in the report, except you can't read them.

Kelly says the public perceive this heavily edited report as non-compliance with the freedom of information request.

"An insult to the public's right to know," he said.

Redacted text in reports is not uncommon. A FOIL officer often redacts to protect a witness' identity and address or to protect an accused person's right to a fair trial.

But Kelly says the person preparing the report needs to include his or her reasoning for that in a cover letter.

The report NewsChannel 13 received from the school's legal department had no cover letter and no explanation.

Phone calls to Superintendent Eric Ely and the school's spokeswoman, Karen Corona, looking for comment on why so much of this report is blacked out were not returned Thursday night.

School Board President Maxine Brisport said she couldn't talk about anything that's redacted, which is just about everything.

Raucci is being held in the Schenectady County Jail without bail. He's due back in court on Oct. 21 for another hearing.