This article has been updated to add new information and add a video.
Robert Burnside, a beloved high school principal in the Cincinnati community, resigned Friday after he was criticized by his school district for helping a homeless student.
His resignation comes after he was on leave for three weeks pending an investigation. Records show the district investigated Burnside for allegedly allowing a former homeless student to attend classes and eat in the school cafeteria.
“Please be advised that I am resigning my position with the Lakota Local School District Board of Education for personal reasons,” Burnside wrote to Superintendent Ashley Whitely. His resignation is effective on January 30.
“It has been a true privilege to have the opportunity to be the principal of Lakota East High School, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity given to me by the Lakota Local School District to lead this role,” his letter reads.
More: A high school principal is under investigation after helping a former homeless student
Burnside will remain Lakota East High School’s principal until Jan. 30 but will not return to the school, his attorney said. The next two months of his career will include a combination of administrative leave, sick leave and unpaid leave, due to credit counting toward retirement.
Lakota East Principal Robert Burnside has resigned.
Lakota Local Schools did not respond to requests for comment Friday except to confirm that the school board accepted Burnside’s resignation at an emergency meeting Friday afternoon. The district cannot comment on personnel matters or about individual students.
Burnside has been the 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 began an investigation into the “issue,” Superintendent Whitely said in a message to district families.
This concern led to Burnside’s involvement in helping a former Lakota student who was not enrolled in the district earlier this school year, The Enquirer found in records obtained through an Ohio Public Records Act request. County supervisors grilled Burnside in a Nov. 11 meeting.
Some of these questions included:
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“Where did he lay his head last night?”
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“How did he get to the East every day?”
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“What if he got into trouble, what would happen? What if he wasn’t a schoolboy, how would he be punished?”
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“Has he ever been injured? If so, why? Did you also think that he was not registered?”
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“Did you plan with the cafeteria like that?” [the student] did you manage to get lunch? Did you use your money to do this?”
The news gained national attention and several of Burnside’s former students spoke out in their defense online.
“Mr. Burnside provides the best principal I have ever had at Lakota,” one user commented on The Enquirer’s Instagram post about the story. “He was always happy and excited to see everyone and knew everyone by name. He kept a lot of us out during the COVID time and you can tell he has heart, passion, and care in everything he does.”
One user said: “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 very blessed to have him, and any attitude towards him. He represents the school he is serving and protecting the student he needs. disproportionate praise would be grossly unfair not only to the good principal, but also to every child in the district who looks up to the leaders in our community.”
Burnside said he is grateful for the support.
“I am extremely grateful for the outpouring of support I have received and I am eager to take lessons from this moment in time and come back to be a better leader in the future,” Burnside wrote in a statement on Friday. afternoon. “However, at this time, for the sake of my health, the well-being of my family, and to avoid bringing discord within the Lakota school community, I have made the decision to resign as principal of Lakota East High School. and I wrote my resignation letter.”
Why was the student disenrolled?
It is not known how or why the student was enrolled from Lakota Local Schools. But there are legal protections for students experiencing homelessness under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, which ensures that students experiencing homelessness receive 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 deregister students because of homelessness. The law requires schools to have a homeless education coordinator on staff to serve as a liaison to students with homelessness, and to enroll homeless students even if they don’t have the records — such as a permanent address — normally required to enroll.
Districts must keep these children in their home school unless the student’s parent, or the student himself, does not want it. Districts must also provide transportation to students experiencing homelessness, even if those students are living outside the district’s boundaries.
The interviewer requested information from Lakota Local Schools regarding the policy, the district’s procedures for following it and whether the district has a referral system for students experiencing homelessness. The school district had not responded as of Friday afternoon.
This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Lakota chief investigated for helping homeless student quit his job.