On Aug. 12, 2025, officers from the St. Charles Police Department took drama teacher Louis (Nick) Saubers into custody after being found to be in possession of child pornography. In the days that followed, staff and students would grapple with the news, while also preparing for the upcoming school year. With Saubers being a big part of the St. Charles High community, the news and details of his crimes affected both students and teachers.
“We never thought on Tuesday it was going to be good, but it was worse than we could’ve imagined,” Principal Ted Happel said. “We had no prior knowledge of anything, until the Superintendent got a phone call from the chief of police, letting him know that he was going to be arrested on Tuesday… he didn’t answer the call because he was in a meeting. And they were just here and I was in a meeting so Dr. Closson actually took them to where his room was.”
As a principal, Happel’s immediate concern was the safety and mental health of his staff and students.
“I can never guarantee anybody’s safety in this building or anywhere with school. We do everything we can to try to protect you guys, and to protect our staff, to protect each other. But there’s never guarantees there, because you can do everything you possibly can and, unfortunately, the world we live in, whether it’s the horrible violence, or something like this, you can only do so much. The biggest thing is we’ve got to lean on each other, and help each other as much as possible.”
When the reports were initially released, it was revealed that Saubers had been previously investigated by the Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division in June of 2024, yet he continued to teach at SCHS until being arrested in August 2025. It is important to note that the Missouri Department of Social Services is extremely understaffed and has a high amount of backed up cases. According to the probable cause statement released on Aug. 13, the case was found to be unsubstantiated, and the investigation was not reported to the St. Charles School District or the St. Charles Police department. This caused people to question if appropriate action had been taken to ensure the safety of students.
“When the initial CPS, or Child and Family Services call was put out, we [St. Charles Police Department] weren’t notified. It was when we were notified is when we began our investigation,” said school resource officer Jason Love. “I can say that, any call that comes through CPS and they involve us, we take the information, if we deem it worthy of investigating, then we begin our investigation.”
As former coworkers and friends of Saubers, many teachers at SCHS were deeply affected by the news. In the wake of such crimes, the issue of trust is brought into question – how could this affect the trust between staff and students?
“Trust is a hard thing. Obviously my trust in that staff member is completely gone and will never be able to be rebuilt,” science teacher Johnathan Flaxbart said.
While he found the news shocking, Flaxbart thinks the issue was handled well by administrators.
“When I heard somebody was taken out in cuffs, I didn’t even know it was a staff member until ultimately we got an email from the superintendent because he let us know first, then he let the district know, and then he let district families know, and I thought that was a very good way to handle that, talk to those who were immediately affected and let us get our thoughts, feelings together, then extend it out as needed from there.”
When asked how this has impacted his interactions with his students and coworkers, Flaxbart explained how these events served as a wake up call.
“Staff have this Vector training, so it’s like, signs of bullying, food allergies, cleaning up bloodborne pathogens, stuff that sometimes those of us who have seen these trainings for like 16 years, start to lose their effectiveness. And then something like this happens and it’s a wake up call, right, like the training on like sexual abuse and prevention mentions, it can be anybody! Guy, girl, staff member, this that the other, and so you’re just like okay, yeah sure, anybody. No, it can legit be, anybody. I’ve started to like, really kind of listen to conversations my students are having more, just to kind of make sure what I’m hearing, and again I’d never just take it at face value, I have been paying more attention to that.”
Daniele Munzer, a teacher in the FACS department explained her perspective on trust, her initial thoughts, and the situation as a whole over email.
“I inherently think the best of people and I am pretty trusting overall, however, this situation has really been shocking. To know that someone we worked with could have done or thought something so vile is heartbreaking,” Munzer said. “My initial thoughts were shock, horror, and disbelief. I couldn’t believe something like that could or would happen in our school. As a collective, I don’t think I have the answer of how to move forward. I think seeking help and finding a good counselor or therapist is always a good idea. If you or someone you know was a victim, going to the police would be very important.”
