By Catholic Review Staff
Barry Fitzpatrick, the longtime principal of Mount St. Joseph High School in Irvington, has resigned after reportedly admitting to having inappropriate communications with students at the all-boys Catholic school, according to statement on the school’s website Jan. 30.
“Yesterday afternoon, I accepted former Principal Barry Fitzpatrick’s resignation,” George E. Andrews, president of Mount St. Joseph, said in the statement. “Mount St. 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.”
Andrews said David Norton, assistant principal and director of studies, will serve as acting principal.
“Our students mean everything to us,” said Andrews, who stated in a letter to Mount St. Joseph parents that he has known Fitzpatrick for 25 years. “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.”
Andrews wrote in the letter that he knows the turn of events “will be difficult for some in our close-knit community to understand and accept.”
“Since our founding on Thanksgiving Day in 1876 by the Xaverian Brothers, our sole priority has been carrying out our mission to educate young men in the Xaverian Way,” he wrote. “Regardless of the difficulty of the decisions we may face, you have my personal assurance that we will do everything we can to live up to the high standards our predecessors have established here in Irvington.”
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Fitzpatrick is a former Xaverian Brother. He began working at Mount St. Joseph as a guidance counselor and teacher in 1986.
Andrews was not immediately available for comment.
Copyright (c) Jan. 30, 2013 CatholicReview.org