Ohio principal resigns after investigation into his helping former homeless student
This story has been updated to add new information and to add a video.
Robert Burnside, a beloved high school principal in the Cincinnati suburbs, resigned Friday after he came under fire from his school district for helping a student who was experiencing homelessness.
His resignation comes three weeks after he was put on leave pending an investigation. Records show the district investigated Burnside for allegedly allowing a former student who was experiencing homelessness to attend classes and eat at the school cafeteria.
“Please be advised that I irrevocably resign my position with the Lakota Local School District Board of Education for personal reasons,” Burnside wrote to Superintendent Ashley Whitely. His resignation is effective Jan. 30.
“It has been truly an honor to have the opportunity to be the principal of Lakota East High School, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity that the Lakota Local School District has given me to lead in this capacity,” his letter reads.
More: High school principal under investigation after helping former homeless student
Burnside will remain principal of Lakota East High School in title through Jan. 30 but won’t return to the school, his attorney said. The next two months of his tenure will comprise a combination of administrative leave, sick leave and unpaid leave, for credit purposes to count toward his retirement.
Lakota East High School Principal Robert Burnside has resigned.
Lakota Local Schools did not respond to requests for comment on Friday other than to confirm that the school board accepted Burnside’s resignation during an emergency meeting Friday afternoon. The district cannot comment on personnel matters or about individual students.
Burnside was principal of Lakota East High School in Liberty Township, about 25 miles north of Cincinnati, since 2021. The district placed him on paid administrative leave Nov. 1 and launched an investigation into “a concern,” Superintendent Whitely said in a message to district families.
That concern turned out to be Burnside’s involvement in assisting a former Lakota student who was unenrolled in the district earlier this school year, The Enquirer found in records obtained through an Ohio Public Records Act request. District administrators grilled Burnside in a Nov. 7 pre-disciplinary meeting about his relationship to this student and why the student was allowed on school grounds while unenrolled.
Some of those questions included:
“Where was he laying his head at night?”
“How was he getting to East each day?”
“What would have occurred if he had gotten in trouble? How would he have been disciplined if he was not a student in our school?”
“Did he ever get hurt? If so, how? Did you consider the liability of this since he was unenrolled?”
“Did you make arrangements with the cafeteria so that [the student] was able to get a lunch? Did you use your own money for this?”
The news garnered national attention and several of Burnside’s former students spoke up in his defense online.
“Mr. Burnside is hands down the best principal I ever had through schooling at Lakota,” one user commented on The Enquirer’s Instagram post about the story. “He was always joyful and excited to see everyone and knew everyone by name. He kept a lot of us from leaving during COVID and you can tell he has heart, passion, and care for everything he does.”
Another user commented: “Mr. Burnside is the most compassionate, understanding, and supportive school administrator I’ve ever had the pleasure of learning under. Lakota East, and the Lakota Local School District are beyond blessed to have him, and any reaction on behalf of the school to him providing and caring for a student in need that isn’t unequivocal praise would be a severe injustice to not only an excellent principal, but also to every kid in the district who looks up to the leaders in our community.”
Burnside said he is grateful for the support.
“I am grateful beyond measure for the outpouring of support that I have received and I certainly have a desire to take the lessons from this period in time and to return to become an even better leader in the future,” Burnside wrote in a statement Friday afternoon. “However, at this time, in the interest of my personal health, the well-being of my family, and to avoid creating divisiveness within the Lakota school community, I have made the decision to step down as the principal of Lakota East High School and have tendered my resignation.”
Why was the student unenrolled?
It is unclear how or why the student was unenrolled from Lakota Local Schools. But there are federal legal protections for students experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which ensures that students experiencing homelessness have access to a free and appropriate public education.
More than 24,000 students experienced homelessness in Ohio in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
Under this law, schools cannot unenroll students for experiencing homelessness. The law requires schools to have a local homeless education liaison on staff to serve as a contact person for students experiencing homelessness, and to automatically enroll students experiencing homelessness even if they don’t have the records – such as a permanent address – typically needed for enrollment.
Districts have to keep these kids in their home school unless the student’s parent, or the student themselves, objects. Districts also need to provide transportation for students experiencing homelessness, even if those students are staying somewhere outside of the district’s boundaries.
The Enquirer has requested information from Lakota Local Schools regarding this law, the district’s procedure for following it and if the district has a liaison for students experiencing homelessness. The school district has yet to respond as of Friday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Lakota principal investigated for helping homeless student resigns
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