© Emily Smith/Pittsburg High School Juniors Gina Mathew, Kali Poenitske, Maddie Baden, senior Trina Paul, juniors Connor Balthazor and Patrick Sullivan prepare to Skype with newly hired principal Amy Robertson. Connor Balthazor, 17, was in the middle of study hall when he was called into a meeting with his high school newspaper adviser.
A group of reporters and editors from the student newspaper, the Booster Redux at Pittsburg High School in southeastern Kansas, had gathered to talk about Amy Robertson, who was hired as the high school’s head principal on March 6.
The student journalists had begun researching Robertson, and quickly found some discrepancies in her education credentials. For one, when they researched Corllins University, the private university where Robertson said she got her master’s and doctorate degrees years ago, the website didn’t work. They found no evidence that it was an accredited university.
“There were some things that just didn’t quite add up,” Balthazor told The Washington Post.