Heroic High School Student Journalists Uncover The Fraudulent Past Of Their Deceitful Principal

NY Times- Four days after students at a high school newspaper in Kansas published an article that questioned the credentials of a recently hired principal, she resigned.

The story began to germinate on March 6, when the Pittsburg Community Schools announced it had hired Amy Robertson as the high school principal.

Maddie Baden, a 17-year-old junior and a staff member of the student-run newspaper The Booster Redux, set out to write a profile. But in multiple interviews over several days, Ms. Robertson provided details of her background that did not hold up, Ms. Smith said.

Then Ms. Robertson became increasingly evasive.

“She was asked direct questions,” Ms. Smith said. “She couldn’t give direct answers.”

The students questioned the legitimacy of Corllins University, an institution where Ms. Robertson said she got her master’s and doctorate degrees. It lists no physical address on its website and has been the subject of consumer complaints and warnings about its lack of accreditation. 

Smaller details also aroused the students’ curiosity. For instance, Ms. Robertson said she had earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the University of Tulsa, but when the students checked, they learned it does not confer that kind of degree, Ms. Smith said.

On Tuesday night, the board of education met and announced that Ms. Robertson had resigned. “In light of the issues that arose” she felt it was in the district’s best interest, a board statement said.

Sheesh. What a witch hunt. Whatever happened to “The Principal is your pal”? I thought McCarthyism was dead but these try-hard student journalists decided to bring back a smear campaign for the ages. Guilty until proven guilty.

Poor Amy Robertson. Multiple trips to staples to print out her resume, unless she has her own printer; years and years of further education pursuing a Ph.D (maybe?); a grueling bachelor of fine arts track at the University of Tulsa (also maybe? Probably not honestly). After all that, she lands her dream job as the principal of some school in Kansas. Amy generously agrees to let the student newspaper do a piece on her, only to find herself ensnared in a web of gotcha journalism.

So maybe she went to Corllins University, which is apparently some mythological Phoenix University ripoff. Nobody really knows if it exists, but fake school is good enough for me. And maybe she lied on her resume. Who hasn’t? My GPA on my resume is healthily rounded. I’m pretty sure I’ve got a 5.3 on there (I was a BIG extra credit guy–sold weed, game-worn lax gear, and OTPHJs to all my TFs). Either way, this whole episode goes to show you can never trust the media. Thank God Trump made that clear.