Wednesday, April 05, 2017

Diploma Mill Degree

I can't believe that in this day and age, people still lie about their credentials:
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.

The students began digging into a weeks-long investigation that would result in an article published Friday questioning the legitimacy of the principal’s degrees and of her work as an education consultant.

On Tuesday night, Robertson resigned...

In a conference call with the student journalists, Robertson “presented incomplete answers, conflicting dates and inconsistencies in her responses,” the students reported. She said she attended Corllins before it lost accreditation, the Booster Redux reported.

When contacted by the Kansas City Star after the publication of the students’ article, Robertson said all three of her degrees “have been authenticated by the U.S. government.” She declined to comment directly on students’ questions about her credentials, “because their concerns are not based on facts,” she said.

In an emergency faculty meeting Tuesday, the superintendent said Robertson was unable to produce a transcript confirming her undergraduate degree from the University of Tulsa, Smith said.
Which is worse, that she lied about her education, or that the students did more work than the board that hired her did?

4 comments:

Ellen K said...

There are far too many people sporting degrees that have their basis more in how much they paid than what they learned. I know of a person who is in administration at my school who has a degree from Full Sail and that person has a framed certificate to prove it. Maybe it means something, maybe it doesn't. it sure doesn't offer the type of gravitas that a brick edifice can.

Steve USMA '85 said...

The students digging more than the Board was worse. Seems the students cared more about who led their education than did the Board.

Peg said...

Unbelievable!!

I enjoy your blog very much.

rclark said...

"And I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids!"