Alleged 'Pooping Superintendent' Kept On Leave, Despite Outcry

KENILWORTH, NJ — The Kenilworth Board of Education unanimously voted on Saturday to keep the district's top administrator, the alleged "pooping superintendent," on paid leave despite a public outcry after he was charged with defecating on a track.

Some residents appeared at the meeting and hoped he would be fired now that the story has gained national attention. "I want him gone," one resident said.

The board voted during an emergency meeting Saturday morning at 8 a.m. to decide Thomas Tramaglini's fate. The superintendent was arrested and accused of pooping on the Holmdel track and football field almost "daily," according to Holmdel police.

He will still collect his $147,504 yearly paycheck during his leave. He requested to take the leave the day he was arrested, April 30.

RELATED: Kenilworth Superintendent Charged With Pooping On Holmdel Track

Tramaglini, who lives in Matawan, is due to appear in Holmdel municipal court at 10 a.m. May 30 to answer to the charges.

"There could be other actions taken after May 30," said Vito Gagliardi, the Kenilworth school board attorney. "Depending on what happens May 30, other actions may be taken."

Tramaglini's contract runs through June 30, 2020. Under New Jersey state law, a superintendent cannot be put on an unpaid leave unless they are indicted.

"We are bound by the law," Board member Robert Beiner told Patch immediately after the meeting. "We have to follow the law."

Tramaglini was arrested at the crack of dawn this past Monday morning on the track at Holmdel High School. Holmdel police said they caught him pooping on the track at 5:45 a.m. Tramaglini was charged with littering, lewdness and public defecation, none of which are indictable offenses.

Wearing gym shorts and sneakers, he shouted "No comment!" to reporters camped outside his house Friday.

RELATED: What Could Cause A Superintendent To Poop On A Track?

Many in the room on Saturday, most of them Kenilworth parents, seemed very disappointed. Several said they hope to see Tramaglini fired this morning. When asked by a Patch reporter how she felt, one woman's eyes filled with tears.

"I'm embarrassed, I'm humiliated. I want him gone. We are the laughingstock of the entire nation," said Lenore Jeans, who said she has lived in Kenilworth since she was 2 years old and sent both her children through its public school system.

"This story has gone national. Someone in London called me last night and said they heard about this," she said. "I think he has a serious problem, and I want him gone. I feel for him, but I feel more for the town of Kenilworth. And I really feel more for his family than I do for him."

Jeans said when she heard about the 8 a.m. meeting, hastily arranged by the Board at the last minute, she posted it on Facebook, imploring Kenilworth residents to come.

Human feces were continually being found by students on the track and Holmdel Hornets football field, police said. A source told Patch there have been at least eight pooping incidents. Holmdel police set up a hidden videotape to record whoever was doing the defecation. Some have speculated why Tramaglini, an avid runner who completed the New York City marathon, would defecate on the track.

Whatever his motivation may have been, Kenilworth residents showed him little sympathy.

"You're paying this guy $800-something a day. How long is this going to go on?," Carmine Bucco, a Kenilworth resident, asked the board. "I just ask that when you're hiring again, please vet the person. We've got problems, I just ask that the board be a little more leery on who they are hiring."

Jeans said she strongly wanted to see the superintendent fired, even if it's before his day in Holmdel municipal court.

"First his court date was supposed to be Monday. Then it gets pushed back to May 30. What if it keeps getting pushed back and he gets to stay on as our superintendent? And he's being paid this entire time? I'm angry about that, too," she said.

Even a few teachers from the school district showed up to the early-morning meeting, coffees in hand.

"I understand why the board voted the way they did today," said Amy Reithel, 44, a mother of two children in the Kenilworth school system. "I think he's a sick man and I don't want him working around kids, especially as the superintendent's office is located in the grammar school. But I think the board should do what is the most cost-effective and if that's keeping him on until his May 30 court date, then I accept that."

"But what if his court date is pushed back again?" asked her friend, who did not want to be named.

Photo of Thomas Tramaglini from the Kenilworth school district.