This past February, near the end of Operation Metro Surge, a parental member of the St. Paul Academy “community” leaked a school email to Liz Collin of Alpha News. From Assistant Principal for Student Life Stacy Tepp (she/her/hers), the email specified the venue’s “ICE protocol” for the Winter Dance. Tepp’s message announced: “If ICE is present, adults will help ensure that everyone is in the building safely and doors are locked.”
One of the parental recipients of Tepp’s message has a heightened sense of the absurd. He responded:
Thank you for the information. Now you have my mind racing about the safety of this event. What do we know about the sprinkler system at the venue? Have we tested the smoke detectors? Where will the kids go if there is a blizzard? Earthquake? Monsoon?
Are gas masks available, or should we send our own? I apologize if this will be covered in a follow-up email, but I’m thinking if my daughter needs a well-fitting amphibious-frog suit by Saturday, I should probably call my tactical gear guy by tomorrow…Friday at the latest.
Tepp appeared to take it in good humor and responded in a straightforward fashion. When Collin subsequently posted the “ICE protocol” on X along with a quote from the parent’s email to Tepp, however, it precipitated something like a national security crisis at the school. A second email to parents announced that “conservative news sources” (a/k/a Liz Collin) had posted the ICE protocol for the dance and that the school was “evaluating” its options for the event. Despite the apparent panic, however, the dance proceeded as scheduled — without interference by ICE or other federal authorities.
UPDATE: In a new email to parents after “conservative news sources” (aka me) posted the ICE protocol for the Winter Dance, St. Paul Academy is “evaluating” its options for the event 👇 pic.twitter.com/p15bljmnH8
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) February 20, 2026
St. Paul Academy is my high school alma mater. I wrote about the “ICE protocol” on Power Line and tried to extract a comment from the school on what it was all about. The school declined any comment in response to my inquiry. It also failed to respond to Alpha News for Jenna Gloeb’s related story.
To outward appearances that was the end of the matter. However, the school knew the identity of the author of the gently mocking email to Tepp. The school authorities suspected him of leaking the “ICE protocol” to Collin.
This could not stand. The suspect was summoned for interrogation by head of school “Dr. Luis Ottley” (as he invariably signs his communications). The meeting was also attended by Upper School Principal Minnie Lee.
Ottley asked the suspect if he had leaked the message from Tepp. Ottley threatened the dismissal of the suspect’s two children from the school in the event it was determined he was responsible for the leak. He denied that he was responsible and asked in turn if they had any proof that he was. None was offered other than a reference to the mocking email that Collin had quoted.
Ottley complained of the disruption Collin’s X post had caused the school by disclosing the dance’s venue. The suspect suggested that they take it up with Alpha News.
Late in the meeting Ottley asked if the suspect knew Scott Johnson or the site Power Line. The suspect denied any knowledge of either. (I can vouch for the fact that he doesn’t know me.)
Ottley didn’t dismiss the suspect’s children, but he disciplined the suspect for whatever he thought the suspect had done. Ottley cut him out of school communications. Ottley prohibited his entrance to school property without prior permission, on one week’s notice. Ottley agreed only that he could drop his children off or pick them up at school.
The suspect was otherwise prohibited from posting about SPA on social media and from contacting the school through anyone other than Ottley, the Assistant Head of School, or a Principal. The suspect was encouraged to show a good attitude by keeping his thoughts to himself.
The Star Tribune has now reported at length on the troubled reign of Ottley as head of school. The story highlights the current annual enrollment contract provision allowing the school to dismiss students as a result of parental behavior.
Ottley declined to be interviewed by the Star Tribune for the story. However, in a message to parents that was sent out the day after the Star Tribune story dropped, Ottley portrayed the school’s reliance on the contract provision to dismiss a current student as a one-off in the past two decades — although the provision allowing dismissal of a student as a result of the conduct of a parent appears to be a major change of recent vintage. It applies even if the student is in good standing.
The Star Tribune describes the provision as “a revision to the enrollment contract [that] would empower administrators to dismiss students if their family members spoke poorly of SPA — without refunding tuition[,]” but adds that “[a]dministrators later softened [it]…after parents objected at [a] February meeting.” It does not go back 20 years. (The dismissal of the student referred to in the Star Tribune story and in Ottley’s message has now resulted in a lawsuit against the school.)
The case of the leaked “ICE protocol” went unreported in the Star Tribune story. It belies the gist of Ottley’s message to parents that the use of the enrollment contract provision was an aberration. The point remains that the provision has created an in terrorem effect on parents and students, as a reasonable reader would infer from the heavy reliance on anonymous sources in the Star Tribune story. It’s obvious even if Ottley purports not to get it.
The suspect in the case of the leaked “ICE protocol” and mocking email remains at large, but one wonders whether his children’s continued attendance at the school calls for his silence along with $40,000 per year tuition for each of them. It seems like a high price for a parent to pay to be treated like a wayward child.
