A 28-year-old teacher at Rufus King International High School was taken into custody by Milwaukee police on October 15 after a report that he sexually assaulted three 17-year-old students. The arrest has triggered a Title IX investigation at the school and a letter to families from the principal describing the allegations as a staff member touching students inappropriately.
Milwaukee police responded to the school Thursday after receiving a sexual assault report, according to WISN, which reported the arrest of the man accused of assaulting the three students. Principal Doreen Badillo sent a letter to school families and staff the same day, writing that the staff member was reported to have touched students inappropriately. Badillo called the reported behavior absolutely unacceptable and said the school's aim is to keep its campus safe and welcoming.
According to the station's report, Rufus King contacted Milwaukee Police Department school resource officers and alerted Child Protective Services after the report came in. Per the principal's letter, the accused staff member is not currently working at the school, and the school is conducting its own investigation, including a Title IX inquiry into the allegations.
A Felony Under Wisconsin Law
A Felony Under Wisconsin Law Sexual contact with a student aged 16 or 17 may be a Class H felony under Wis. Stat. § 948.095(2) when the student is enrolled in the same school or district, is not the defendant’s spouse, and the required offense elements are met, according to the Van Severen Law Office. The offense carries up to six years in prison, fines as high as $10,000, and mandatory sex offender registration. Once police make an arrest in a case like this, the allegations are formally referred to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, which decides whether to file charges, per FOX6 Milwaukee. No charges had been filed against the teacher as of the arrest.
School personnel in Wisconsin are also mandatory reporters under state law, required to immediately notify police or child protective services of suspected abuse, with intentional failure to report carrying up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine, according to Child USA. A separate state law, 2025 Wisconsin Act 57, which took effect December 11, requires K-12 schools to notify parents when an administrator or Title IX coordinator determines there is reasonable cause to suspect staff-on-student sexual misconduct; depending on when the report is received, notice is due by 5 p.m. that day or noon the next calendar day, according to Boardman Clark.
Second Major Case at Rufus King in Under Two Years
This is not the first time a Rufus King staff member has faced sexual misconduct allegations. Former theater teacher Erica Allemang-Reinke, who was arrested in April 2025 for inappropriate conduct with members of the school's basketball team, was sentenced to prison that July after pleading guilty to felony sexual misconduct involving four male teenage students, three of whom were 17, according to CBS 58.
The arrest also comes just weeks after a separate security breach at the school. In October, 23-year-old former Rufus King student Amy Jones was charged with six felony counts after she posed as a substitute teacher at the school earlier that month and delivered sexually explicit and derogatory remarks to students during three unmonitored class periods, Hoodline previously reported. Jones was later re-arrested in Illinois following a vehicle theft in suburban Milwaukee.
District Training And Reporting Channels
Rufus King requires all staff to complete annual training that includes instruction on Wisconsin's anti-grooming laws and Title IX, which prohibits sex discrimination, sexual harassment, and sexual violence in educational programs and activities. Title IX concerns across the district can be reported through the district's incident-reporting form.
Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius took over leadership of the district in March 2025 following an 8-0 school board vote, according to WTMJ. Milwaukee Public Schools is Wisconsin's largest public school district, according to the Board of School Directors Milwaukee. The district was billed $1.03 million for its share of school resource officer costs across spring and fall 2025, per the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.
Rufus King, which operates an International Baccalaureate program and earned a four-out-of-five-star rating on its state report card, says it will provide support to the students involved in the investigation. Families can contact the school office to connect children needing assistance with a counselor, nurse, psychologist, or social worker.
