Kansas

Kansas Student Newspaper's Fact Check Results In New Principal's Resignation

April 5, 2017·3:33 PM ET



[font size=1]Students Gina Mathew (from left), Kali Poenitske, Maddie Baden, Trina Paul, Connor Balthazor and Patrick Sullivan at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, Kan. When reporters for the student newspaper there dug into the credentials offered by their new principal, they found issues that led to her resignation.

Courtesy of Emily Smith/Pittsburg High School[/font]

In Kansas, a student newspaper is being praised for its hard work in reporting that Pittsburg High School's newly hired principal had seemingly overstated her credentials. The principal, Amy Robertson, has now resigned, after the paper found she claimed advanced degrees from Corllins University, an entity whose legitimacy has been questioned.

"In light of the issues that arose, Dr. Robertson felt it was in the best interest of the district to resign her position," the school board said Tuesday, adding that it will now begin looking for a new principal.

The turnabout came just weeks after Robertson was hired. Until Pittsburg High's newspaper, The Booster Redux, published its findings last Friday, the main impediments to Robertson starting full time on July 1 had been her impending move from Dubai and the need to acquire a Kansas school administrator's license.

March Booster Redux - This is the home of http://pittsburgdragonactivites.com http://pittsburgdragonactivities.com/2017/03/31/march-booster-redux-2/ …

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"She was going to be the head of our school, and we wanted be assured that she was qualified and had the proper credentials," said editor Trina Paul, a senior at Pittsburg High, according to The Kansas City Star. "We stumbled on some things that most might not consider legitimate credentials."

April 5, 2017 6:03 PM

Editorial: Pittsburg High School students had guts to investigate principal’s credentials

By The Kansas City Star editorial board

One of the most heartening pieces of news out of the heartland this week has got to be the story about the high school students in Pittsburg, Kan., whose investigation into the credentials and work experience of their just-hired principal led to her resignation.

It took a lot of guts to risk the wrath of someone who was about to have so much power in their school and, potentially, their lives. ... And it’s not every high school journalism teacher who would risk the ire of her future boss the way Emily Smith did. Especially since she had been on the hiring committee. Smith and her students showed real courage in pursuing the story.

To recap, 17-year-old Maddie Baden, a junior at the school, initially interviewed the incoming principal, Amy Robertson, “to introduce the new principal to the community,” Baden told The Star. “No one knew who she was.”

Baden and five other student journalists changed all that, after a three-week investigation that began with a simple Google search that turned up questions about Robertson’s degrees and the for-profit school in Dubai she had been running when it received multiple “unsatisfactory” ratings and then was closed. ... “If students could uncover all of this,” Baden said, “I want to know why the adults couldn’t find this.” ... Good question. Lots of good questions, in fact.