Mount St. Joe Principal Resigns Amid Alleged 'Inappropriate' Communications With Students

UPDATED (1:55 p.m.)—The principal at a Baltimore City private high school has resigned amid allegations of inappropriate communications with students.

According to Mount St. Joseph's website, Barry Fitzpatrick has stepped down from his post at the West Baltimore all-boys school.

The following message, from Mount St. Joseph President George Andrews, was posted on the school's website Wednesday.

Yesterday afternoon, I accepted former Principal Barry Fitzpatrick’s resignation. Mount Saint Joseph High School requires our faculty and administrators to have only appropriate communications with our students. We recently discovered communications from Mr. Fitzpatrick that he acknowledged were inappropriate, and we accepted his resignation. As required by law, we have reported these communications to the proper authorities.

Assistant Principal David Norton, our Director of Studies, will serve as Acting Principal.

Our students mean everything to us. That was immediately clear to me the day I first arrived at the Mount in 1987. As such, we have the highest expectations for our faculty and administrators. And when these standards are not met, we have a responsibility to our boys and their families to take action.

A spokesperson for Mount St. Joseph confirmed the validity of the statement and said the school would have no further comment at this time.

Aside from serving as principal, Fitzpatrick also taught Latin at the school at the time of a Patch interview in September. He also previously served as a soccer coach at the school.

According to his profile on LinkedIn, Fitzpatrick had been principal at Mount St. Joseph since 1994, after serving as a counselor from 1986 to 1994. Prior to that, he was principal from 1980 to 1986 at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Wheaton.

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