Multiple Porta Potties Within Yards Of Holmdel Track

HOLMDEL, NJ — Have to use the bathroom while on the Holmdel High track or football field? Don't worry. There is not just one, but two sets of porta potties within yards of the track.

That's the same track where the Kenilworth school superintendent is now famously accused of relieving himself, with "human feces (found) on or near the area of the track/football field on a daily basis," Holmdel police said. Superintendent Thomas Tramaglini, 42, who lives in Matawan, has been charged with littering, lewdness and defecating in public.

As Patch found, there is one porta potty several yards up a small hill from the track, near the concession stand. And as an NJ.com photo shows, there are three more porta potties behind the bleachers.

Tramaglini was arrested early in the morning last Monday, April 30, between 5:45 and 6 a.m. He is an avid runner, having competed in the New York City marathon. So many have speculated he was running on the track in the early mornings before work, and had an emergency bathroom situation.

After all, the Holmdel High track has long been open to the community to use before and after school, residents said.

"My wife and I would go there all the time to walk around the track, or work out," said longtime Holmdel resident Todd Sackawitch, who now lives in Hazlet. "Especially early in the mornings, or evenings, you'd always see other people, lots of kids and women, working out."

"It's always open; it's never locked," he added. "And there are bathrooms right by the concession stand. What would possess this guy to do that?"

Holmdel superintendent Dr. Robert McGarry declined to answer when asked by Patch if Holmdel would begin locking up the track to the public.

However, Dr. McGarry did go to great lengths last week to clear up some confusion, as the story, and Holmdel school district, exploded to international infamy. Dr. McGarry even called the Washington Post to correct them that he was not the superintendent charged with public defecation. It just allegedly happened on his school's track.

"As news spread on Thursday, McGarry began to receive e-mails and texts from parents, community members, colleagues and members of his family, expressing concerns not only about what had happened but equally concerned about his reputation and the reputation of the high-performing school district he leads," read a statement released by the Holmdel school district Friday.

"Using a reputation management strategy taught to Holmdel’s 4th graders, McGarry used the term 'Holmdel Superintendent' in a Google search early Thursday afternoon to determine the extent to which the story had spread and to assess the negative attention it might bring to the school district and to his own reputation," continued the statement. "It was an online posting from the Washington Post with the phrase 'It was the school Superintendent' in the headline that let him know it was time to take action."

"For the last 24 hours McGarry has been doing just that and is pleased to report that several media outlets, including the Washington Post, were receptive to his efforts," said the school district.

All photos by Carly Baldwin/Holmdel Patch