Ohio principal ousted after allowing homeless student to keep taking classes
Ohio principal ousted after allowing homeless student to keep taking classes
Graig GraziosiTue, August 25, 2026 at 4:29 PM UTC
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Former Lakota East High School student Landerius Hayes and his former principal-turned-adopted parent, Rob Burnside. Burnside was fired from his position at Lakota East High School for letting Hayes — who was struggling with homelessness at the time due to instability with his parents — continue to take classes (CBS Mornings)
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A high school principal in Ohio who lost his job for allowing a homeless student to keep attending classes has spoken out about his dismissal, saying he has no regrets.
"I own the fact that my communication could have been better. Maybe I didn't ask the right questions," Rob Burnside told the Cincinnati Enquirer. "But I had nothing to gain out of this other than this is a kid that I care about, our school cares about and we want to help."
Burnside, the principal of Lakota East High School near Cincinnati, Ohio, was ousted from his job after he allowed a student struggling with homelessness to continue attending classes. Landerius Hayes, formerly a Lakota student, told CBS News that living with his parents wasn't a safe option for him during his junior year.
"My mom, I couldn't live with her because it wasn't really safe to live with her," he said. "And my dad, he had some issues going on."
He told the outlet that he would sometimes sleep in his family's car with the heat on because it would get too cold in the mobile home where his father was staying.
Despite his difficult circumstances, Hayes was still able to continue his schooling. But that all changed when his mother moved out of the school district, which meant Hayes no longer was allowed to attend classes at Lakota East High School.
Burnside told CBS News he was told that Hayes had to stop attending classes because of the move.
"He can't be here. He doesn't have a parent who has an address. The parent resides elsewhere. He needs to go where the parent is," Burnside recalled being told.
Hayes and Burnside knew each other from the school. The student recalled to CBS News how Burnside even called him by his nickname during their first meeting in the school's halls.
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"First time I met him is when I seen him in the hallway and I was like, 'What's up, Mr. Burnside?'" Hayes told CBS Mornings. "He just dropped everything, smiled at me, and he was like, 'What's up, DeDe?'"
Burnside didn’t want to see Hayes — only a little more than a year away from graduating — potentially miss out on the remainder of his high school education. The principal said he spoke with his wife, Angel, about potentially letting Hayes stay at their home so he could finish school.
He asked God for a sign and said he received a text message from Hayes shortly after, which he took to be confirmation that he needed to help the student.
"We said, you know, 'God, if this is your will for this young man to be in our home,' you know, 'make it clear,'" Burnside said. "Like five minutes later, my phone buzzes, and I look at it, and it's a message from him: 'Hey, Mr. Burnside.' And I grab it, and I look at my wife and say, 'I think we just got our answer,' and he's been in our house since then."
Burnside told him to just continue taking classes as though he were enrolled, despite his family’s move
When the school learned what happened, Burnside was fired.
The Independent has requested comment from the school.
"I was told that the district did not believe that I could go back in the building and be an effective leader, and I was given the option of stepping down or going through the process of being terminated," he said.
Hayes offered to leave and return to live with his mom in an effort to try to save Burnside's job, but the principal refused and said he'd rather the student stay with him and his wife. Burnside told CBS News he has no regrets, even though his decision cost him his job.
"Because what value can we put on the life of a young person?" Burnside asked.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
