A former athletic director in Rhode Island has resigned from his current job amid an ongoing investigation and lawsuit related to the North Kingstown "fat test" scandal.
WPRI-TV reported that Keith Kenyon, who was hired in 2010 and most recently served as principal of Nauset Regional Middle School, has resigned from that position as of Wednesday, superintendent Brooke Clenchy told the CBS affiliate.
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Clenchy said Kenyon resigned for "personal reasons."
Kenyon was previously the North Kingstown athletic director, and he was recently named as a defendant in a lawsuit tied to the ongoing naked fat testing scandal.
“At his request, the school district entered amicable negotiations and arrived at a separation agreement for Mr. Kenyon to leave the district’s employ,” Clenchy told WPRI-TV.
The unnamed students in the lawsuit that includes Kenyon allege the students were inappropriately subjected to a fat testing program while naked and behind closed doors alone with former high school boys basketball coach Aaron Thomas.
The students also allege other school leaders — including Kenyon — failed to protect them.
Kenyon served as North Kingstown’s athletic director prior to being hired at Nauset. At the time, he ran a for-profit business called Athletic IQ, which the lawsuit alleges incorporated and promoted the fat-testing program.
“Kenyon promoted Thomas as a ‘Testing Station Operator’ and promoted Thomas’ performing body fat testing on the students of North Kingstown High School,” the former students allege in the lawsuit, which was filed last month in R.I. Superior Court.
Rhode Island attorney general Peter Neronha has launched a criminal investigation into Thomas, who has not been charged. Thomas has denied any wrongdoing.
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Kenyon could not be immediately reached for comment, but he defended himself in a Cape Cod Chronicle article, saying “in the end, I believe I will be vindicated.”
“In no way did I facilitate Mr. Thomas’s actions, and the allegations in the complaint regarding the relationship between Athletic IQ and North Kingstown High School are inaccurate,” he told the newspaper.
Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha’s office is also investigating whether the school district violated any civil rights by failing to respond appropriately.
Former North Kingstown athletic director resigns as principal at Cape Cod middle school as ‘naked fat test’ investigation continues. https://t.co/GEWGCGn2kK via @BostonGlobe
— Amanda Milkovits (@AmandaMilkovits) May 27, 2022
Retired Superior Court Judge Susan McGuirl is heading a separate review on behalf of the North Kingstown Town Council, and private attorney Tim Conlon is representing former students in multiple civil proceedings, including the lawsuit naming Kenyon.
The scandal has also resulted in the resignations of multiple high-ranking school officials, including former superintendent Phil Auger and assistant superintendent Denise Mancieri, WPRI-TV reported.
Kenyon, who left North Kingstown in 2009, told the Chronicle he wasn’t aware of Thomas’s inappropriate behavior, and otherwise would have moved to stop it immediately.
