In a typically routine exercise, Pittsburgh High School journalism students stuck to a seemingly uncontroversial topic: their principal. In an interview between the teens and the principal, they simply inquired basic information about their new principal. According to one of the teens Trina Paul,
“She was going to be the head of our school, and we wanted be assured that she was qualified and had the proper credentials,” -Kansas City Star
What the teens found out with a little googling, however, raised more than a few eyebrows. During the interview the principal, Amy Robertson disclosed that she had received both her doctorates and masters degree from Corllins University. In an attempt to find out more the students looked the university up only to find a partially functional site and no physical address for the said university.
These findings prompted further research which lead the students to contacting the U.S. Department of Education. Their inquiry uncovered the fact that Corllins University was not accredited.
In an attempt to do some damage control, Amy Robertson responded to the findings with dismissal. According to the principle,
“The current status of Corllins University is not relevant because when I received my MA in 1994 and my PhD in 2010, there was no issue.” -NBC NEWS
Robertson then went on to attribute the students findings to opinion rather than fact. Regardless of what actually happened, the newly found information resulted in the headmaster’s resignation. In the board’s statement on the issue, they remarked that , “Dr. Robertson felt it was in the best interest of the district to resign her position.” Whether Robertson decided it would be best to ditch the ship before it sunk with the rest of her career or her ‘resignation’ was a softer way of saying say was fired, these young journalists did an incredible job moving past false pretenses in search of the truth.
