Student journalists who exposed principal publish editorial on superintendent
On Friday, the Pittsburg High School paper, The Booster Redux, published a scathing staff editorial on its front page, asking the school board to hold its superintendent, Destry Brown, accountable.
The Booster Redux achieved national fame in April when six students wrote an article that challenged the credentials of the incoming principal, Amy Robertson, which led to her resignation. The students were then invited to the White House correspondents’ dinner. The editorial stated that at the dinner, they were inspired by famous Watergate journalist Bob Woodward, who challenged them, saying, “whatever the climate ... we should and must persist.”
Before their trip to Washington, they wrote, they were “sitting in silence” and “afraid” to say what they thought needed to be said: that Brown should be held accountable for hiring an unqualified principal.
“We met with Brown three times while researching Robertson,” the students wrote. “Three times he told us not to worry about her credentials. Three times he assured us there was nothing to see. Three times he was wrong.”
During an interview with The Eagle in April, Brown said that, privately, he shared some of the students’ concerns about the incoming principal but didn’t think he could talk about them because it was a personnel issue. He also said he thought that any issues with her qualifications would eventually have come to light before the new principal started work.
The students said the school board failed in its duty to provide oversight and characterized Brown’s work not just as a mistake but as “repeated disregard for the truth.”
“We trusted our district leaders to follow through, but that trust was broken,” the students wrote. “We did our job and need district officials to take responsibility, but the matter has been swept under the rug.”
Oliver Morrison: 316-268-6499, @ORMorrison
This story was originally published May 21, 2017 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Student journalists who exposed principal publish editorial on superintendent."