08/04/2026
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
The incredibly moving reality behind this story centers on Robert Burnside, the former principal of Lakota East High School in Ohio, and a student named Landerius “DeDe” Hayes.
16-year-old Hayes found himself experiencing homelessness due to circumstances entirely out of his control.
Because his mother’s new address fell outside school boundaries, district officials abruptly ordered his withdrawal.
Refusing to abandon the teenager, Burnside put his own career on the line by actively fighting the order and allowing Hayes to continue attending classes, which the school district ultimately labeled as insubordination.
Faced with an aggressive central office investigation, Burnside chose to protect the student and permanently walked away from his decades-long career in education by handing in his resignation.
He and his wife, Angel, then took their devotion a step further by assuming permanent legal custody and welcoming Hayes into their home alongside their six other children.
In May 2026, the beautiful full-circle moment came to fruition when Burnside sat proudly in the stands at the Cintas Center to watch Hayes walk across the stage to receive his high school diploma—no longer as his principal, but as his father.
