North Kingstown Parents Urge Superintendent To Resign Over Naked "Fat Test" Scandal

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Several North Kingstown parents at Tuesday's school committee meeting called for Superintendent Phil Auger's resignation over his administration's handling of accusations that a former basketball coach forced students to strip naked behind closed doors.

Former students say former coach Aaron Thomas asked students to strip naked in his office for so-called "fat tests," and say he had been doing so since the 1990s. According to WPRI 12, which first reported this story, Auger kept Thomas on as a coach for more than two years after some students came forward.

During public comment, several residents addressed the scandal and criticized Auger and the school committee saying they should have taken action as soon as students came forward.

"Parents were not notified, DCYF was not notified, students were not advised, the coach kept his job and the tests continued," resident Brian O’Dell said. "The truth will come out, but it's unbelievable only minimal action was taken at the time. Only now because of brave alumni coming forward do we know the full extent of this behavior."

Auger, in his first time speaking publicly on the allegations, denied he knew their extent in 2018.

“If I had the 2021 information in 2018, I would have initiated the suspension and termination then," Auger said.

He said the former student that came forward in 2018 did not bring up the naked "fat tests." According to Auger, the former student said he wasn't naked, but was wearing a towel or gym shorts during the tests.

"Aside from feeling uncomfortable, the individual did not allege any inappropriate contact occurred at that time," Auger said.

Attorney Timothy Conlon, who is representing former students who came forward, refuted Auger's claim that he didn't know about the allegations

"At least two alumni spoke with North Kingstown officials on a total of 4 occasions in 2018, and advised that they were naked when examined, alone with a school department coach, on school department property," Conlon said in a statement. "They identified the coach. Each young man stated that he was touched, and subjected to a series of pinches using the employees fingers and a caliper device. Both boys described one of the pinches was on his inner thigh within inches of his genitals. "

Some parents called for an independent investigation of the allegations and into the school administration's handling of them.

Other residents, like Trish Goodkin, called for changes to the chain of command for reporting problems in the school athletic community. Goodkin said there should be an anonymous reporting system, and a licensed social worker should be assigned to student athletes.

"Kids should be able to have these complaints with a social worker and keep it out of the athletics department," Goodkin said, as some students may worry their playing time or college scholarships may be at risk if they speak up.