Principal Resigns After Helping a Homeless Student

homeless student
A Cincinnati principal resigned after being investigated for allowing a homeless teen to attend school and receive meals, highlighting the clash between compassion and bureaucratic policies that often fail to protect vulnerable students.

A Decision to Support a Homeless Student Raises Critical Questions About School Policies and the Rights of Unhoused Youth

A well-liked principal at a Cincinnati high school has now resigned after being placed under investigation for extending some compassion to a homeless former student. Principal Robert Burnside had allowed this student to continue to attend classes and eat in the school cafeteria after being withdrawn from the district. Higher-ups disagreed with this decision.

Since the student was technically unenrolled, district administrators worried about the legal liability of allowing him on school grounds should he get hurt there, for example. They had questions about who was paying for his meals in the cafeteria and the location they could consider to be his current residence. They were less worried, apparently, about the student’s education and overall well-being.

Investigation and Resignation: When Doing the Right Thing Breaks the Rules

Burnside was placed on administrative leave for 3 weeks while the investigation into his conduct was underway. During that time, he tendered his resignation, effective January 30th. He will remain on leave until then and will not return to the school.

How the student became unenrolled from the school in the first place remains an unanswered question. Since the student was still interested in attending classes at the school, it seems unlikely to have been voluntary.

One source mentions that “residency rules” were a factor, but homeless students have protections under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to protect their right to an education in situations like this. Districts are obligated to keep homeless students enrolled in the same school unless the student or student’s parent specifically objects. A student cannot legally be unenrolled for being homeless, and the school has a duty to provide transportation services for homeless students even if they reside outside the school’s normal residency area.

Now, we know that these laws are not always followed, and homeless children are the ones who pay the price, with little ability to seek legal recourse for the injustice. But punishing a principal trying to pick up the slack adds an extra dash of cruelty.

Bureaucracy’s Impact: How Paperwork Failed a Homeless Student

Paperwork can be a powerful thing. In our society, we’ve imbued it with enough meaning that it can magically transform a homeless child from someone worthy of being fed and taught one day to someone who must be kept away from the school building at all costs the next. It needn’t be the student’s actions that caused this change, only the shift in their designation from “enrolled” to “unenrolled.” If all children in this country have an equal right to a free education, why do certain students have to jump through so many hoops to get it?

Paperwork in a pre-disciplinary hearing characterized Burnsides’ actions as “insubordination, willfully violating the school board’s policy for student attendance and putting himself and the district in a potentially liable position.” It could have just as easily read, “bravely got into good trouble, used common sense, and removed barriers to allow for a proper education for all children,” but I guess there’s no form to fill out for that.

Paperwork is a potent tool for dehumanization. Seeing something written out in black and white with fancy-sounding language can get us second-guessing our instincts or worse – bypassing our internal critical thinking process entirely. Names on a page are much easier to pass harsh judgment on than a living, breathing child in front of you. The sea of bureaucracy allows you to mentally distance yourself from the real-life impacts your decisions cause.

Just writing something down doesn’t make it any more accurate, but it often feels that way, which is a cognitive bias we should be aware of and work to counter. This wasn’t insubordination. It was offering food and education to a child who needed it. And if that’s against the rules, then the rules are wrong.

Beyond the Headlines: Why Schools Must Do Better for Homeless Students

Ever since the school district sent out a message informing parents that they were investigating an unspecified “concern,” rumors have swirled about what could be happening. Now, with more information, but still some critical unknown pieces, different rumors have taken hold within the community and the larger area.

We don’t know all the details of what happened in this school district, and it will probably be a while before we find out anything more concrete, if we ever do. But that doesn’t change the fact that the story, as it currently exists, is out there in the world, having an effect. Principals at other schools see what happens to someone trying to do the right thing by a disadvantaged student and may be less likely to take risks for such students in their own districts.

We can also let the story motivate us for good, though. Take inspiration from the principal’s actions, realize that breaking the rules may be the only way to do the right thing, and form networks to support those who choose to take brave action and may face negative consequences for it.

We can also let this inspire us all to take a closer look at how our local school districts interact with their homeless students. Do they have homeless liaisons who are informed about the law and empowered to make the necessary arrangements to follow it? Or are they hoping that they can push a few poor students out without the larger population of NIMBY parents batting an eye? Ironically, their whole “think of the children” routine rarely applies to homeless children.

In cases where school administrators are either uninformed about their legal responsibilities to homeless students or willing to overlook them, a few knowledgeable and engaged parents or local community members can make a big difference for homeless kids. This is a great place to get involved locally by engaging in conversations with your local school board members or by becoming one yourself!


Kayla Robbins

Kayla Robbins

  

Kayla Robbins is a freelance writer who works with big-hearted brands and businesses. When she's not working, she enjoys knitting socks, rolling d20s, and binging episodes of The Great British Bake Off.

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