PRINCIPAL LOST JOB HELPING HOMELESS TEEN, THEN TOOK HIM IN
Robert Burnside, the former principal of Lakota East High School in Ohio, resigned after his district investigated him for letting a homeless student keep coming to class and eating in the cafeteria after the school had ordered the teen withdrawn. He and his wife later became that student, Landerius “DeDe” Hayes, permanent legal guardians, and Hayes graduated high school in May 2026.
Hayes calls him “Pops.”
Hayes was 16 in 2024 when his housing fell apart. He bounced between friends’ homes and sometimes slept in his car, Bright Side reported. He washed his clothes in school sinks, and when his school laptop died, he did his homework on his phone.
Then came the paperwork problem. Hayes no longer had an address inside the Lakota Local School District, so Lakota East ordered him withdrawn.
Burnside, who had run the school since 2021 and had spent nearly two decades in education, let Hayes keep attending class and eating lunch while people looked for a longer-term fix. He later told CBS News, in a report carried by Yahoo News, “this is a kid that I care about, our school cares about and we want to help.”
The district saw it differently. Officials asked why Hayes was on school property, how he was getting lunch and what liability the district could face if something happened to a student who was no longer enrolled, Hoodline reported.
Leave, resignation and a new family
Burnside was placed on administrative leave on November 1, 2024. The district’s stated concerns included insubordination and failure to follow directives, IndiaTimes reported. The school board accepted his resignation later that month.
Burnside told CBS News he was given a choice. “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.
He also admitted he could have handled the communication better, but said his goal never changed: helping a student he and the school cared about.
Burnside and his wife, Angel, then spoke with Hayes’ biological mother before pursuing a permanent arrangement, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. They also asked Hayes how he felt about living with his old principal. In February 2025, the couple became his permanent legal guardians.
Hayes moved into a full house with four brothers and two sisters, Black News reported. Some social media posts called it an adoption, but Bright Side noted the arrangement is permanent custody and legal guardianship, which is not the same thing.
Hayes finished his schooling at Kings High School. In May 2026, he walked the stage, collected his diploma and picked up a leadership award. Burnside watched from the stands, this time as a father figure instead of a principal.
The odds were not in Hayes’ favor. The national graduation rate for students experiencing homelessness was 69.1% in the 2022–2023 school year, almost 18 percentage points below the rate for all students, according to a fact sheet cited by Bright Side.
After graduating, Hayes went to work as a car mechanic and said he hoped to build a career in aviation.
Readers who came across the story were firmly on Burnside’s side. “This is what real leadership looks like: seeing the person behind the problem and choosing to help,” one Bright Side commenter wrote. Another said, “The school district you worked, should have been honored to have you as a principal.”
Burnside’s own career took a harder landing. IndiaTimes reported that he had been unable to find another principal job and was working as a training and compliance manager for a workwear supply company.
On October 24, 2026, IndiaTimes updated its profile of Burnside. It said Burnside had no regrets about helping Hayes, and that Hayes was working as a car mechanic while training toward a career as an aviation mechanic.
