The Blaze reports that a high school boys basketball coach fondled students under the guise of “fat tests.”
The Rhode Island coach, who resigned his position in June, denies the allegations.
According to a report in the Boston Globe, the Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office is investigating the allegations.
At the heart of the matter is 54-year-old Aaron Thomas. He is said to have ordered his players to strip in order to conduct body or “fat” checks.
The Globe’s report notes that the allegations were known but not disclosed to parents. When North Kingstown Superintendent Phil Auger defended his silence at a school committee meeting earlier this week by saying, “I acted appropriately,” the crowd responded with a loud rebuke.
Some parents at the school committee meeting held signs reading, “You failed our boys,” as it was disclosed that Auger was aware of allegations since 2018, and the board was aware since February of 2021.
Speaking to parents at the open school committee meeting, Auger said, “I acted appropriately and immediately in the best interest of students, past and present, with the information I had at the time.”
The Globe reports that Auger’s statement “drew a loud rebuke from some in the crowd — ‘Liar!’ one person yelled.” It was noted that an attorney representing former student-athletes attended the meeting.
After the meeting, attorney Timothy Conlon, said to a Globe reporter, “I fully intend to see to it that people I’ve spoken with that have significantly different versions of events make that information available to the school committee and the public at large.”
In February, the school board voted unanimously to officially terminate Thomas (who had resigned seven months prior) and hire an outside investigator to look into allegations.
After Thomas resigned in June, he was hired by Monsignor Clark School, a parochial elementary and middle school. Thomas was terminated earlier this month when news of an open investigation regarding molesting students surfaced.
The Diocese Office governing Monsignor Clark School reports that the North Kingstown District “did not alert them to concerns about Thomas.”
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