A team of lawyers say they have secured a massive settlement for a child victim's family, following a sex abuse case involving a former Springfield, Mass. teacher and a middle school student.
It was one of two settlement sums announced this week – both the result of apparent systemic failures on the part of the school district.
A warning to readers/listeners: this story contains descriptions of sexual assault and harm to minors.
It’s been over two years since the now-former STEM Middle Academy teacher Robert Gayle was first arrested and initially charged with crimes such as multiple counts of aggravated statutory rape of a child in 2023.
More victims would come forward and additional charges would follow, all involving minors allegedly abused or groomed by the social studies teacher and girls’ volleyball coach.
The allegations resulted in multiple criminal cases as well as a pair of civil suits filed in 2025, filed on behalf of the families of two victims. Those families have now won settlements, with one of them receiving a record amount.
“These amounts reflect the harm done to the two children and their families, and they are also a testament to the strength of the survivors [and] their families, who had the bravery to speak out, seek justice and demand accountability,” said Attorney Robert DiTusa during a press conference Monday.
Settlements for both cases were technically reached last November, but following approval from a federal court judge this week, the results were detailed by DiTusa and other lawyers immediately afterwards.
One family’s case resulted in a $13 million settlement, a sum believed to be the “largest reported child sexual abuse settlement in Massachusetts history,” according to Laura Mangini, a partner at the firm Alekman DiTusa.
The settlement in the second case handled by Mangini’s team totaled $1.8 million.
“This entire case is about systemic failure… that's one of the things that the two families we represented wanted to make sure that the public knew - that this was not just a case of an isolated incident,” she told WAMC in a phone interview Friday. “… it demonstrates a pattern and a culture that enabled the abuser and put the safety of children below the abuser.”
Mangini says Gayle’s alleged crimes go back to at least the 2021-22 school year, and involved multiple situations in which students, their families and even teachers attempted to contact school administrators and staff about Gayle’s alleged conduct, only for Gayle to remain in place.
“The mom for the daughter in the second case — she called the school seven different times and had seven separate conversations with either the principal or someone else in the administration about the fact that Robert Gayle was asking for her daughter to stay after school… with just her and another girl, that she was overhearing conversations that Robert Gayle was favoring the girl students and not the boy students,” Mangini recounted. “Again, just like the kids, Mom was pushed off …. disbelieved and told she was really misinterpreting the situation.”
Both civil cases list Gayle as a defendant, along with the city of Springfield and in one case, a former STEM principal.
Another former principal, Luis Martinez, was named in both as well. Per Mangini, Martinez is accused of failing to report a set of allegations to the state Department of Children and Families and conducting his own internal investigation that determined nothing significant had happened to one of the alleged victims.
Eventually, following a number of allegations that grew beyond claims of Gayle touching a student and attempting to isolate young teens in classrooms, the teacher would be taken into custody.
He would be indicted on four counts of aggravated statutory rape in September 2023, then on three counts of indecent assault and battery of a child under the age of 14 in February 2024, according to court documents.
Mangini notes that as criminal charges against Gayle started to come out in March 2023, the city and Springfield Public Schools soon began a review of policies and procedures, initiating an overhaul of things like its employee handbook and code of conduct.
The attorney says the changes were welcome, so long as actual enforcement is in place.
“We are hopeful that these policies and changes will amount to real change going forward because what we … and our families don't want, is for another family in six months, a year [or] two years to be in the same position that they are,” Mangini says. “But, having new policies and procedures in place is not enough because really, it's [about] the enforcement of those policies and it's the accountability … holding these people to task if they’re not following the policies.”
According to Mangini, Gayle is currently out on bail and was previously fitted with an ankle monitor. WAMC has reached out to his attorney as well as legal representation for all other defendants named in the civil suits.
She also notes that there was a third victim and additional criminal case involving Gayle, though Mangini had no information on its status.
Due to their age and the nature of the case, no names of the victims were provided, with court documents referring to some of the victims as “Jane” and “Susie Doe.”
When asked by WAMC, Mangini said the families her team represented were “strong” and have multiple support systems in place to help them, and that students are doing “as well as can be expected in this situation” while noting the kind of abuse and trauma they went through can have long-lasting effects of all kinds.
Responding to a request for comment from WAMC, Springfield City Solicitor Stephen Buoniconti reaffirmed the city and SPS had taken actions in the face of what’s happened.
He says the school department has “invested significantly in programming and training” and that “families across the city entrust the school system to provide a safe environment for their children to learn and grow and that obligation remains a central focus.”
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Press conference audio for this story was provided by the law firm, Alekman DiTusa. In addition to Mangini and DiTusa, WAMC notes the aforementioned legal team also included Alexander Sneirson of the Sneirson Law Firm.
