Naked fat testing of NK basketball players was 'open secret'. What a blistering report says

NORTH KINGSTOWN — For years, school officials gave high school boys basketball coach Aaron Thomas a "free pass" to perform his inappropriate body fat tests on undressed students whenever and wherever he wished – at the cost of students' safety, says a retired judge.

In a blistering report echoing the findings of an earlier and separate independent investigation, retired Associate Justice Susan McGuirl says the School Department “allowed this naked fat testing to continue even though it was an open secret among students and the community for over 20 years.”

In fact, the tests, where boys between 14-18 years of age stood undressed and alone with Thomas, became so “normalized” it was seen as a weird rite of passage for those athletes hoping to join the successful basketball program, the judge said.

But McGuirl said no reasonable person could condone Thomas’ “inappropriate” conduct – or the insufficient response of certain school officials when confronted by complaints from former students starting in 2017.

Civil Lawsuits Pending: A second former student has sued North Kingstown schools over a coach's 'fat tests'

“When it was reported to them, they took no meaningful action and did not follow up when there were complaints made,” McGuirl says in an 80-page report to the Town Council.

Not only did the School Department “fail to protect their students' health and wellbeing, but they also failed to provide notice of these allegations to agencies who oversee education matters at the state and federal level.”

The reason, McGuirl says, “appears to be a concern about teacher's rights and frustration with possible litigation and disciplinary hearings. Those concerns seem to take priority over the protections of student rights and the development of procedures to deal with employee behavior.”

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The School Department “must immediately take measures to ensure that this does not happen again.”

The Town Council hired McGuirl in November to review local and state investigations into Thomas’s practice of fat testing students and how town departments and agencies responded. 

The Thomas controversy has consumed the town for more than a year since several former students stepped forward to accuse the longtime coach of inappropriate behavior.

Previous coverage:

• Former student sues North Kingstown officials over Aaron Thomas 'fat-testing' scandal

• A second former student has sued North Kingstown schools over a coach's 'fat tests'

• North Kingstown is a town divided since allegations against coach

Their complaints – and the School Department’s response to those complaints – eventually sparked criminal investigations by the state attorney general’s office and the town's Police Department, as well as civil-rights complaints filed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and now two civil suits directed at current and former School Department officials.

Thomas, who resigned last June as the School Committee prepared to fire him, has not been charged with any crime and has said he is innocent of the allegations.

McGuirl spoke with some 50 people for her report and took the additional step of educating herself about the best practices of fat testing, a common tool in improving athletic performance but not normally used at the high school level.

She said she learned that when conducted by anyone, the test is generally done in three areas: the biceps, the shoulder and the waist or hip area.

Former students have said Thomas would direct them into a private area and then ask if they were shy or not shy. Those who said they were not shy would remove their underwear while Thomas, most often using calipers, made measurements of their upper thighs beside their genitals.

McGuirl found Thomas conducted his version of fat testing even though he had never been trained in the practice and was not an athletic trainer.

McGuirl said it appears that half the students took their clothes off and half did not.

McGuirl said the parental permission form that Thomas has suggested was used did not convey sufficient information for parents to make an informed decision – including that their child may have been naked during the testing.

McGuirl said even after receiving complaints about Thomas, certain school officials seemed determined to keep it private. She notes that when the assistant high school principal was promoted to principal in September 2020, she “was unaware of any information, prior issues or complaints about Thomas.”

The School Department’s superintendent and assistant superintendent resigned in March in the wake of another scathing independent investigation that found administrators breached their duty to protect the students from Thomas.

McGuirl makes several recommendations in her report, including several that the School Department has already begun implementing. They include: banning all school employees from communicating with students outside school-sanctioned channels, requiring that all coaches receive additional training in recognizing and reporting sexual misconduct and what constitutes appropriate boundaries with students, and requiring annual background checks of all coaches.

“There needs to be a culture change in all institutions that are responsible for the care of children,” said McGuirl. “In every instance of sexual misconduct, the behavior is first and foremost the responsibility of the individual who does the improper act. ... But educational institutions and the adults they employ always have to be prepared to deal with those that exhibit unacceptable behavior.”

In a statement Monday evening, lawyer Timothy Conlon, who represents several former students pressing complaints against Thomas, described McGuirl’s findings as “a significant step” toward reconciliation and reform.

As long as the school department continues “to fail to put students first, it is doomed to fail,” said Conlon. “A culture that prioritizes protecting itself and bad teachers or coaches over students is deliberately indifferent to its primary mission – providing a safe educational environment to students.”

Email Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com 

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: North Kingstown gave boys basketball coach Aaron Thomas a "free pass"