Hannah Seward, a senior at Pikesville High School, wasn't surprised to hear that her principal was allegedly recorded on a recording of a man complaining about black students and the Jewish community.
She said she had concerns about Principal Eric Eiswart's views on minorities before the recording was made public, but was surprised by how explicit the comments in the recording were. She said the school system is determining whether the voice is actually that of the principal, and while there is public debate, Seward believes other students share her concerns about Icewort. she said.
“Iswort was a beloved principal, so it's not like that changed their feelings.” [students’] It’s a realization above his head,” Seward said.
Baltimore County Public Schools launched an investigation last week after the recording was posted by the popular Instagram account murder_ink_baltimore. He named Icebelt as the only voice.
In the recording, the person referred to “ungrateful black kids who can't even pull themselves out of a paper bag” and how difficult it is to get them to meet grade-level expectations. He names the alleged employees and claims they should not have been hired. The speaker states that others must be excluded “in some way.”
“And if I have to hear one more complaint from another Jew in this community, I'm going to join the other side,” the voice in the recording says.
Public officials condemned the comments, stressing that an investigation was ongoing, but users on social media expressed doubts. whether Eiswert said racist and anti-Semitic comments; Billy Burke, president of Eiswart's union, denied it was Eiswart and said the union believed the recording was made using artificial intelligence.
Burke said in a statement Tuesday that the union, Council of Administrative and Supervisory Employees (CASE), is “cooperating with BCPS and the authorities during the investigation.” Principal Icebelt criticizes the words and thoughts expressed in audio. CASE and Principal Eiswart maintain that he made no such statements, and we are confident that the investigation will exonerate him. It is discouraging that people are assuming guilt before the investigation is complete. It's proven to be dangerous and unfair. ”
He echoed similar sentiments at a county school board meeting that night, but added that Eiswart and his family have been harassed and threatened since the recordings were made public. Burke said the school arranged for police to attend Eiswart's home.
“The press and social media have allowed people to make statements and tell stories without any evidence or accountability,” he said by phone during the board's public comments. “I have also received harassing emails, so I was nervous about meeting them in person.”
Eiswart did not respond to requests for comment.
Rashawn Stitt, chairman of the Northwest Baltimore County Regional Education Advisory Council, also spoke about the recording of the meeting and said he was not shocked by the comments made in the audio.
“There are a lot of lemons in this district, creating a sour learning and working environment for academics and staff every day,” she said. “Their actions have been ignored or swept under the rug for years in the hope that it all goes away.”
Geraldine Hastings, who was Catonsville High School's social studies chair when Eiswart worked at the school, told The Banner she did not believe the voice in the audio was him.
“That's not Eric. He's not the Eric I knew when he was in my department,” she said.
Eiswart, a former social studies teacher, came to Catonsville. She said she attended the school as a student teacher in the late 1990s and was later hired full-time. (His LinkedIn profile lists him as having worked in the school system since 1997.) Hastings described Eiswart as a wonderful family man, an excellent teacher, and a person who “worked with all of his students.” They always seemed to have a good relationship.”
“I don't think I ever heard a real negative word come out of Eric's mouth in all the time I taught there,” she added. “Unless the student doesn't have a hall pass.”
Kate Hamill, a former English teacher at Catonsville High School, said she worked closely with Eiswart and observed him in a variety of settings: as a colleague in the classroom across the hall, as an assistant principal and in the community outside of school. Ta.
“I never heard him say anything that was derogatory about anyone, student or teacher, based on their race, gender or ethnic background,” she said.
Hamill She said she knows students of various racial and ethnic backgrounds who seek advice from Eiswart. In the 17 years she has taught at Catonsville, she said Catonsville has become more diverse, with the addition of Hispanic, Muslim and black students. When Hamill and other staff members launched a diversity program, Eiswart was one of their biggest supporters, despite pushback from some faculty.
“Eric has helped all of us working on this issue work on a school-wide program to ensure all students feel included in the life of Catonsville High School and the community. '' Hamill said. “I've never heard him use words like that about students.”
But some students who attended Catonsville High School didn't remember him that way. DeRay McKesson, a civil rights activist and executive director of Campaign Zero, an organization focused on ending mass incarceration and police brutality, said Eiswart attended the school in the early 2000s. , served as a social studies teacher and student council advisor.
“I'm not at all surprised by his comments on this recording,” he said. Posted in X Addressing more than 938,000 supporters, he added that Eiswart should be fired and stripped of his teaching and administrator certifications.
DeAsia Bowens, a Catonsville High School alumnus, also believes it was Eiswart who was recorded. He was Bowens' assistant principal around 2015, and she said he was “the meanest” of all the administrators.
“He definitely didn't think twice,” Bowens wrote in an Instagram direct message to a Banner reporter. She recalled that black students were treated differently from white students at the school. These included an incident in which one of her friends was suspended from school and banned from attending prom, while a white student was not detained or punished for similar misconduct.
The remarks in the recording were about Pikesville. Her parent, Tara Boykin, is black.
“I'm sending my son to school because the principal (the person who's supposed to be running the school) talks disparagingly about him,” Boykin said Monday, sitting in her car in the school's parking lot. It's not for listening.” she with her child Sophomore Delano Allen. “And he was talking about test scores, but you're still the principal. Test scores are your fault.”
she said ice belt Instead, we should develop plans to address inequality. Her son called Ms. Eiswart a “charlatan.” The reason is: “With those people, they talk to you like they're cool, and then they get angry behind closed doors, and that's when something else comes out.”
Fred and Sabrina Shennerman were also sitting in their car on the property Monday morning listening to the recording. Sabrina's father, Fred, was taking a current events course at his synagogue, Beth Tfilow, and his teacher sent audio to the class to listen to prior to the class discussion. . He personally doesn't think anyone should rush to judgement.
“We're all human, but there has to be something else going on,” he said.
“I have a different opinion, but it's probably not a good idea to make it public,” Sabrina said. “I don't think it was created by AI.”
Ryan Coleman, president of the Randallstown NAACP branch, said everyone is considered innocent pending an investigation. But for audio, turns out to be icewort, and Coleman She is concerned about Eiswart's prejudice against black children. Coleman said there always seems to be some white people who think black students can't succeed academically.
“On the flip side, our kids are underachieving, so I was happy that he was upset about that and showed passion that we need to do a better job.” He said. Said.
The Pikesville community has a large Jewish and black population. Seward, who is Jewish, said she and her allies are well aware of: There is an academic achievement gap between white students and black students. According to the latest state testing data, as of 2023, 80.6% of Pikesville's white students were proficient in 10th grade English, compared to just 40% of black students.
The senior also said he witnessed black students being treated differently than white students, “mainly in the form of microaggressions.” She was once invited to a health class by Icewort. The roundtable discussion included what he was doing to close the achievement gap and how teachers who treat black students with prejudice should be held accountable.
“I can't say exactly how he reacted,” Seward said. “He wasn't productive.”
Liz Bowie contributed to this report.
Kristen Griffith is an education reporter covering Baltimore County.
