By Aria Brent
AFRO Staff Writer
abrent@afro.com
A social media post featuring an audio clip of what seems to be a high school administrator speaking ill of Black students, a Black faculty member and the Pikesville Jewish community was shared on Instagram.
The audio clip was shared along with a photo of Pikesville High School principal Eric Eiswert and the school’s assistant principal Kathy Albert—suggesting the comments being made came from a conversation between the two administrators.
An Instagram user by the name of @murder_ink_bmore shared the post along with a caption stating: “Voice recording of Pikesville High Principal Eric Eiswert rant about Black students and faculty, including D.J, the new Athletic Director. He also mentions Jews. He was talking to the new AP Kathy Albert … she’s allegedly a well known racist AP from Dundalk high who just got to Pikesville. They worked together at New Town High. He was also accused of racist comments years ago when he was at Catonsville High School.”
The comment section of the post was flooded with a variety of opinions regarding the language used in the audio clip, the commentary made and the track record of the Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) administrator that allegedly was caught on tape saying these things.
Many people argued that the complaints being made in regards to the students’ behavior and academic success were fair, and the uproar was due to the fact that the person accused of saying these things was White. Meanwhile others noted that if any action were to be taken it would be a result of the anti-Semitic comments made—not the ones about Pikesville’s Black students and faculty.
A statement was released on Jan. 17 by BCPS superintendent, Myriam Rogers in which she said the alleged comments are not reflective of BCPS’ core values and that an investigation was being launched.
“These statements are deeply disturbing and do not reflect the core values of our school system. Although BCPS cannot confirm the veracity of this recording at this time, we are taking this matter seriously and have launched an investigation. Once we have determined the facts, we will swiftly address this incident,” Rogers stated. “I understand how upsetting this recording is for many members of the Team BCPS community. I want to reiterate our unwavering commitment to our 110,000 students, 20,000+ staff members, and our richly diverse community members who all help make BCPS an incredibly special school system. We will not tolerate disparaging remarks about any member of the Team BCPS community.”
The AFRO reached out to Pikesville High for a response to the issue and was told, “There is no commentary to be said about this.”
Although Eiswert’s current school didn’t have anything to say about his alleged statements, several of his former students from his time at Catonsville High did.
“Mr. Eiswert, he’s one of those people who you know doesn’t like Black people. He was so mean for no reason. He didn’t know how to talk to us , or how to discipline us,” recalled Rickia Oglesby, a 2016 graduate of Catonsville High.
Oglesby explained that she and Eiswert had a very unpleasant interaction her senior year of high school that ultimately led to him attempting to press charges against her and her being suspended from Catonsville for the entire academic year. The former Comet further shared that when she was made aware of the situation that’s currently being investigated by BCPS she wasn’t surprised and considered this kind of behavior “on brand” for Eiswert.
“This is nothing new. He’s not a nice person, and growing up I thought ‘maybe it is me’ but seeing this I know it’s him,” Oglesby said. “Even though it’s just an audio recording I know that’s him on the recording because I know his voice. You have to watch his actions and how he deals with people. That’s the only way you’re going to really know if these allegations are true.”
Eiswert seems to have a reputation for being unpleasant and covertly racist, but leading up to these allegations there isn’t any documented proof of these characteristics. Another Catonsville alum who had Eiswert as an administrator discussed his behavior towards Black students.
“He had a reputation around school for being a rude guy and kind of just knew something was off,” said Tyrone Peoples, a 2014 graduate of Catonsville High. “It’s like when he would come into school he’d put on a mask and he would take it off when he left, but I could see right through that.”
Peoples didn’t have an altercation with Eiswert like Oglesby did but he shared similar sentiments to hers, noting that this kind of commentary and these accusations aren’t out of character for him.
“It absolutely seems on brand for him, if you ask me. I always saw through him and how he acted so I always expected there to be another layer to him. I was always given a bad vibe from him,” Peoples shared. “The way I would see him approach Black students and White students, it was different and it was really weird.”
This investigation is still being conducted by BCPS and there has been no confirmation of who was speaking in the audio clip shared on social media.
The post Pikesville High principal accused of racist and anti-Semitic comments appeared first on AFRO American Newspapers.
