Trouble has been simmering at St. Paul Academy and Summit School, where parents, students and alumni say the elite private school has been cracking down on dissent. The tensions trace back to internal disputes over boys' lists ranking girls and the censoring of the student newspaper. Families grew even more alarmed when administrators quietly slipped new language into the enrollment contract that critics say could let the school dismiss students if their relatives publicly criticize the institution. The conflict escalated again when a ninth-grade student was removed from next year's roster after his father organized a letter of no confidence, leaving the community sharply divided over leadership and transparency.
According to the Star Tribune, nearly 100 parents and alumni signed a letter in April 2025 urging trustees to step in after reports that some boys circulated lists ranking girls' appearances. The paper reports that administrators directed the Rubicon, the student newspaper, to remove critical quotes and later pulled the full story from its site. The school then hired outside counsel and a consultant to review disciplinary policies and the investigation. The Star Tribune also reports that the school quietly added a contested enrollment-contract provision that would allow expulsion if family members intimidated employees, sued the school or publicly expressed what it called "strong disagreement" with school policies, although administrators later softened that language after parents objected.
School Pushes Back
School leaders have pushed back on the criticism and point instead to program growth and fundraising as signs that St. Paul Academy is moving in the right direction. Public materials from the school highlight new campus projects, expanded programming and an active capital campaign that appears designed to project stability and ambition. The school also says it is working to refine investigative practices and student supports in response to family concerns, according to St. Paul Academy and Summit School.
Parents Say Expulsion Was Retaliation
Parents who organized a no-confidence letter say the school crossed a line when it moved from contract fine print to a real student losing his spot. According to the Star Tribune, Roseville council member Matt Bauer hosted a parent meeting and drafted the letter questioning leadership. Afterward, Head of School Luis Ottley told Bauer that his younger son's enrollment would be terminated and that the school would refund the family's deposit. For critics, the combination of the contract language and the ninth grader's removal added up to retaliation and sent a clear message that open dissent could carry a steep price in a community that has long prided itself on open dialogue and tight alumni ties.
Pay and Power
Questions about power at the top have been amplified by how much the school pays its leader. School filings indicate that Head of School Luis Ottley's total compensation reached roughly $760,000 by 2024, a figure that has become part of a wider governance debate over leadership and stewardship. That number comes from the school's IRS filings and is compiled in ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, which posts extracted Form 990 data for the institution.
Student Press and Secrecy
Students on the Rubicon staff say they tried to report on the boys' lists and the administration's response, only to watch their work slowly disappear. They describe quotes being redacted, then the entire story being removed from the paper's website. An archived version of the student piece, along with interviews, supports that timeline. Those student accounts, and the parents who lined up behind them, helped push the dispute into public view and prompted the outside review of disciplinary practices, according to reporting and archived materials available online via The Rubicon.
What Comes Next
The uproar has left trustees, families and alumni wrestling with familiar but fraught questions: how transparent a private school should be, who gets to challenge leadership and what it takes to rebuild trust once it is shaken. The dispute is unfolding alongside other controversies at St. Paul Academy this spring, including the removal of a widely criticized antisemitic cartoon that had been displayed as part of a middle-school project in May. That incident has intensified demands from some families for clearer oversight and communication, according to the Washington Free Beacon. For now, parents on both sides of the debate say they want lasting changes: clearer policies, better communication and fewer students caught in the crossfire of adult fights.
