# @enquirer on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Dba0-pJjClR
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68571129-enquirer-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/fd55744d1b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-30T13:46:07.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sam Greene (@sgdoesit) — https://gondola.cc/sgdoesit

## Caption

Robert Burnside felt mixed emotions in the stands at Cintas Center, witnessing hundreds of Kings High School graduates accept their diplomas.

The former Lakota East High School principal first felt acute stress, which he likened to post-traumatic stress disorder, as memories returned from his nearly two decades leading high schools. Graduation ceremonies like this one, he said, used to be his Super Bowl.

But overriding the stress and the longing for the profession he once cherished was immense pride for the graduate he was supporting that day: Landerius "DeDe" Hayes.

Not too long ago, Burnside knew Hayes to be a junior walking his halls at Lakota East, one of many students Burnside liked humoring with his "goofy pants" he'd sport every Friday.

At the time, Hayes was the student experiencing homelessness who Burnside championed when Lakota ordered his withdrawal. He was the 16-year-old who, due to circumstances out of his control, didn't have an in-district address on file.

And Hayes was the student for whom Burnside put his career on the line, allowing the teenager to stay in classes despite his unenrollment – a situation that prompted a district investigation, Burnside's resignation from Lakota and departure from the education field at large.

A year later, in May 2026, a freshly graduated Hayes sits at Burnside's dining room table. Hayes, now 18, has grown accustomed to calling his former principal "Pops."

He has spent holidays and birthdays in his new home, with his new legal guardians, Burnside and his wife, Angel, and six new siblings – four brothers and two sisters.

Read the full story at the link in our bio. (📸: Joe Simon for The Enquirer) #cincinnati #cincinnatiohio #lakota #lakotaeast #adoption

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## Tags

adoption, cincinnatiohio, cincinnati, lakota, lakotaeast

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