On Nov. 10, former English teacher Ted Bennett was placed on administrative leave. He was then arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of his students and charged with third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual assault. Bennett has a hearing date on Jan. 27, in which the court will determine if there is probable cause to continue proceedings, if the evidence collected is admissible and if any other relevant information should be disclosed to both the prosecution and defense. These hearings usually aim to speed up the trial or secure a plea deal.
Before Bennett was formally charged, Principal Rob Reetz sent out the school’s first message to students and families on Nov. 11, informing them of the arrest. In this email, he explained that the school was cooperating with the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department during their investigation. After that, Reetz assured that the school prioritized student safety and well-being, reminding readers that student support staff are available. This email was sent out at 12:30 p.m., just minutes after Bennett was booked into the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center. “We wanted to make sure that our families heard about what was happening from us before they heard about it from the media,” said Reetz.
The next day, Reetz sent a follow-up email stating that Bennett was formally charged and had resigned his position in the school district. All communications, including this one, had many people working on it, including Colin Sokolowski, the district’s executive director of public communications. A team of at least 12 reviewed each message to ensure that it conveyed all possible information clearly and legally. By that point, many students already had an idea of what happened from word of mouth and rumors and formed opinions of whether the allegations were true or false, but the district could not share more details of the investigation, especially since the victim is a minor. “It’s that frustration of wanting to be clear,” Sokolowski said. “The difficulty there is then you have people reading that initial message and possibly saying ‘you know more than you’re saying and you’re not being clear.’ And the truth is, a lot of people want to know, but the question is: Do a lot of people need to know?”
Also on Nov. 12, Reetz asked third hour teachers to play a video of him to their class discussing the impact the situation has had on the community. In this video, Reetz also addressed the emergence of victim blaming from some students. “No student is at all responsible for what happened. The victim is not at all responsible for what happened. Saying or posting anything to the contrary only furthers the hurt and the harm already done,” Reetz said in the video. Administration’s goal was to help students understand that this is a sensitive topic for many people, including the victim, her friends, those who have lived through sexual abuse and others in the community. He encouraged students to talk about their concerns to their deans or in smaller groups.
Through the first days, administration was limited on how much they knew and how much they could share. They wanted to acknowledge to the community that they knew what was going on, but they could not share specific reasons for the arrest, and that included confirming or denying information circulating around the school. “So even in the communication that you were seeing, we were having to be very careful that we didn’t reveal information that would otherwise be considered personal data or be data private,” Reetz said. Teachers and staff were also not informed about much until Nov. 12 when they met as a staff. Until then, they only knew that their colleague was on administrative leave. “What ended up happening is students found out much sooner than staff as to why the teacher was on leave,” Reetz said. “In some cases, students had more information, whether it was accurate or not, they had more information than teachers did.”
Bennett’s email was disabled, his nameplate was removed and his classroom was closed off with a sign redirecting students taking his classes to different locations around the school. Originally, the school closed the classroom because Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department was investigating the room, but when their investigation was over, some students said that they felt uncomfortable using the room again. Reetz says that they do not know how long it will be until they will use the room again: it could be second semester or even next year. “We have kicked around what we do to reclaim the space, and we’re just not there yet as a school in terms of how and when we’ll do that, but eventually, that will become a space that is reclaimed in as healthy a way as possible,” Reetz said.
With Bennett’s sudden absence, his students had no one to teach them. For the first few weeks, substitute teachers that kept changing filled in for his classes. Administration meant to have a permanent replacement by the time school resumed after Thanksgiving break on Dec. 1, but finding someone took longer than expected. At first, the school used multiple short-term substitutes to fill the role, but they later switched to long-term substitute teacher Jake Young, who is currently teaching Bennett’s classes. Reetz eventually hired Chippewa Middle School English teacher Brett Michel, who will begin teaching at Mounds View on Jan. 5, right as students return from winter break. Michel has been working in the district for 12 years and applied for the new job at Mounds View. Since Reetz used to be the principal of Chippewa Middle School, he already knows Michel well. “I was interested in him because he knows our systems, he knows our kids, he coaches here, kids know him. He’s [a] high integrity, high honesty, high trustworthy individual as opposed to hiring someone that you don’t know,” Reetz said. “I spent a lot of time on the hire.”
Even with the substitute teachers and other English teachers grading and helping with coursework, students in Bennett’s classes have had a different classroom experience. “It’s been kind of difficult with getting help with assignments. I mean, there’s other teachers grading our work and stuff, but they aren’t able to be in here 24/7 for helping students if they have questions,” said senior Carlos Calzada.
After the news, the community felt many varied emotions including shock, hurt, grief, concern and anger. Mounds View administration is focusing on mental health and healing of the community. Not only are students encouraged to talk to student support staff, Mounds View is partnering with Ramsey County SOS (Sexual Offense Services) advocates to provide support. For example, on Dec. 2, some students participated in a facilitated small-group discussion led by one of the SOS advocates. Students can also talk to their deans for support.
Staff members were offered similar opportunities, including mental health professionals and time away from work. Teachers and staff were also hurt by the situation and felt betrayed by the alleged actions of their colleague, whether or not they knew him well. “I think [I had] shock … I think grief and anger as well, just about the situation. … It really just was a gamut of emotions,” said English teacher Steve Morrissette.
The school’s primary concern is currently focused on healing as a community and making sure everyone is OK, so specific changes in policy or security are not certain yet and have not been discussed broadly with staff. However, the discussion has started at higher levels. Some security changes will likely be funded by the capital projects levy passed in November. Reetz says they may add more cameras around the school, and they are considering implementing a key inventory in which they give teachers access only to necessary rooms. This would not involve changing the locks because that would be too expensive. Staff have not been informed of this possible change yet. “We feel like we should have a better sense for who has what key and whether or not they need as much access as they do,” said Reetz.
Administration, along with Ramsey County SOS advocates, are teaching teachers and staff how to maintain a healthy boundary with students. The advocates led learning for staff on Dec. 11, and plan on leading one again on Jan. 27, 2026.
The school is also looking at adopting a single platform for communication between groups and activities. This platform would not share personal contact information, and could be a way for coaches to communicate with athletes through text messages. The exchange of personal contact information is a boundary that the administration does not want crossed. The same goes for driving a student home, according to Reetz. If giving a student transportation is necessary, two adults must always be in the car.
Administrators also want to train staff to effectively respond to sensitive reports from students. All of these reports are investigated by the school, according to Reetz. If teachers are put on administrative leave for these reasons, it is more so to have the student feel comfortable talking during an investigation rather than the teacher being in trouble. Even if an investigation leads to nowhere, a student will not be penalized for reporting. All teachers and staff are mandated reporters, so students can report anything they find concerning to any adult at school whom they feel comfortable talking to.