Chanhassen High School Principal Arrested For Possessing Child Porn

CHANHASSEN, Minn. (WCCO) -- The popular principal of a south metro school is on leave after a day that shocked his students and bosses.

Tim Dorway is the principal of Chanhassen High School.  He was arrested at his home Tuesday morning on suspicion of possessing child pornography. At the office for East Carver County Schools, district officials were stunned by the arrest.

When district officials got in Tuesday, the day started business as usual.  But they got a call that changed everything.

School went on as scheduled, but nothing went as planned.

"It's a hard day for the school, hard day for the district. It's hard for our community," Brett Johnson, the spokesperson for East Carver County Schools, said. "The Carver County Sheriff's Department was executing a search warrant and shortly thereafter, an arrest was going to be made so the first thing we heard was this morning."

Agents with the Minnesota Burea of Criminal Apprehension searched the school 44-year-old Tim Dorway leads each day. They also searched his home - they believe he had child pornography.

"We want parents to know based on all the information we've received so far there's no indication students were involved," Johnson said.

But students were clearly affected by the news.

"I checked Facebook and Twitter and it's really blowing up," Calvin Tentis said.

Calvin Tentis works with lots of Chanhassen graduates at this hockey shop. He graduated from the school in 2013, and Dorway was his principal.

"He was trying to build a culture of excellence," Tentis said. "He was very active and it wasn't like in middle or elementary school when you only saw principal when you were in trouble. He was always in the hallways talking to students saying how there day was going, stuff like that."

Now the hallways will be more empty. Dorway is on paid leave while the district does its own investigation, ending a day they never saw coming.

Teachers got the news first on Tuesday. They were taken aside, given a place to seek counseling if needed. They then read a prepared statement to each class, parents got an email saying in part "Graphic Please" this will be a difficult time, and we will get through it. Our work on this situation is only beginning."

The superintendent says he knows there are tons of questions. They hope to have more answers over the next few days.