Day 1 Update Of Former Atlantic City, N.J. Teacher Trial

Why has there been a near local media news blackout regarding former Atlantic City Public Schools teacher Phil Eisenstein?

With the exception of our 7-plus years of news coverage, there has been almost no other media coverage whatsoever.

Why?

We’re not complaining, as it’s always good to have a monopoly regarding an important matter such as this.

Eisenstein was terminated from his teaching position under outrageous and unjust circumstances.

After more than 7 frustrating years, Eisenstein has finally gotten his day in court.

Yesterday, Monday, April 24, 2023 was the first day of jury selection in the Eisenstein versus Atlantic City Board of Education trial.

Still, there’s no local media coverage except for us.

We followed “Day 1” closely and there were some interesting developments.

Despite an entire day of activity, a complete jury has not yet been selected.

By the conclusion of yesterday, 7 out of 8 jurors have been seated.

Many potential jurors have been knocked out during the Voir Dere for a variety of reasons.

New Jersey Superior Court Judge Danielle Walcoff is presiding over this trial.

The Judge advised yesterday that she anticipates a 1 to 2 week trial in this matter.

When potential jurors got past the initial questions and were potentially close to being seated as a juror, Judge Walcoff asked the potential jurors:

• What television programs do they watch?
• What do they do in their spare time?
• Where do they get their news from?

It wasn’t easy to seat jurors. At least the first 7 potential jurors were dismissed for various reasons. For example, one was dismissed when it was disclosed that they have a sister who is a teacher in the Atlantic City Public Schools System.

There appears to be only four potential jurors who reside in Atlantic City. Two of them have already been knocked out because they know Atlantic City Board of Education employee and witness James Knox.

There is a list of 12 potential witnesses at this time. One of the witnesses is Barry Caldwell, a former Atlantic City Superintendent of Public Schools. Caldwell has recently been rehired by the Atlantic City Board of Education to serve as an operations executive.

The Atlantic City Board of Education attorney must be concerned after Day 1, as many of the potential jurors who have been excused from participating in this trial … were excused because they stated that they have a bias in favor of the teacher (Eisenstein).

From our earlier reporting about this matter, James Knox and Atiba Rose handled the internal investigation of the Eisenstein.

The duo appears to have interviewed 3 teachers who were only there at the end of the student altercation and they did not interview 3 others that (according to Eisenstein) saw the whole student altercation and how Eisenstein handled himself.

The State of New Jersey Investigations/Child Protective Services staff investigated the matter and fully exonerated Eisenstein of any wrongdoing.

Regardless of this objective finding, The Interim Atlantic City Superintendent of Public Schools recommended that Eisenstein be fired from his teaching position.

The Atlantic City Board of Education voted to terminate Eisenstein.

Day 2 of the trial continues this morning in New Jersey Superior Court in Atlantic City.