Student expulsion lawsuits against Providence Academy in Plymouth go to arbitration

Lawsuits against Providence Academy over the 2022 expulsion of five students have been moved to arbitration at the Plymouth school’s behest.

In November, four families sued the Catholic prep school for expelling their sons and allegedly perpetuating a “false rumor” of their involvement in a sexual assault. The school has since successfully petitioned a state court judge to send the dispute to arbitration.

In January court filings, Providence Academy also elaborated on its decision to expel the students, contending they were involved in making a sex video, which was shared with other students at the school.

The parents, in subsequent court filings, accused the school of continuing to slander their children and fought unsuccessfully to adjudicate the dispute in Hennepin County District Court. The parents include well-known Twin Cities businessmen Michael Reger and Bahram Akradi.

Akradi is founder and CEO of Lifetime Fitness and chair of Minnetonka-based Northern Oil and Gas. Reger is a founder of Northern Oil and its former CEO. Two of Reger’s children were expelled.

The incident stems from an alleged assault reported to Wayzata police on Nov. 10, 2022, after five girls and five boys from Providence gathered at Reger’s Wayzata home, where alcohol was consumed.

Within days after the police report, the boys were expelled and the girls received a one-day suspension, according to the lawsuits. Parents of the expelled students accuse Providence and its administrators of gender discrimination, defamation and unreasonable discipline inconsistent with school policy.

In their lawsuits, the parents contend school administrators did not assert that the alleged assault was the reason for the boys’ expulsions. Rather, they said, the boys were expelled because they attended a gathering “where underage drinking occurred.”

Todd Flanders, Providence’s headmaster, said in a January court declaration that the “the plaintiffs evidently misunderstood the reasons for the expulsions or have intentionally presented a misleading narrative.”

The expelled students, the filing said, “were involved in an incident that resulted in the making of a video of sexual activity between minors who were students at Providence Academy and the sharing of that video, including inside Providence Academy’s building, with Providence Academy students.”

In court filings, the parents responded that the school and its administrators continued to slander their children “with gratuitous and unsupported statements” over the reason for their discipline.

Paul Dworak, an attorney for the parents, said he couldn’t comment further because the court ordered confidential mediation and arbitration.

Flanders is named as a defendant in the suits, as is Providence’s director Kurt Jaeger and dean Chris McElroy. Former director Kyle Rickbeil, who has since transferred to St. Joseph’s Catholic School in West St. Paul, is also a defendant.

According to the lawsuits:

After a Providence Academy football game, boys and girls in the eighth and ninth grades gathered at Reger’s home. Parents didn’t know some of the students were drinking alcohol, which some later admitted to doing.

A boy and girl there were dating and engaged in consensual physical contact. The girlfriend “insisted” it was consensual and continued dating the boy. The parents accuse Providence administrators of perpetuating a false rumor that a sexual assault had occurred.

Flanders and other school officials never spoke to the students who were at the party or conducted “any real investigation into the validity of this high school rumor before spreading it to the press, student body, faculty, staff and alumni” via an email.

Providence claimed in court filings that the expulsion dispute should never have ended up in court: The students’ enrollment contracts obligate the parents to first mediate any claims, and if unsuccessful move to binding arbitration.

The parents argued that under federal law, they could not be forced to arbitrate a “sexual assault dispute.” They contended that the Minnesota Human Rights Act also prevents forced arbitration.

Hennepin County District Judge Rachna Sullivan ruled in March that the dispute should go to binding and confidential arbitration, staying the suits.

“We were very pleased with the judge’s order in March that requires plaintiffs to comply with the contract they signed,” Flanders said in an email to the Star Tribune.

Wayzata police investigated the initial sexual assault report and presented a case “for charge consideration” to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, said Police Chief Marc Schultz. Prosecutors determined there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue charges and the case was closed in October 2023, he said.