Sacramento elementary teacher put on leave. Parents say it was retaliation
Mark Henrikson, a sixth-grade teacher at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, was placed on administrative leave Monday. Parents believe he is being retaliated against by the school district for speaking out on behalf of his former partner-teacher who they say was unfairly removed from the classroom earlier this year.
Parents in Henrikson’s class were notified by Principal Brooke Fahey in a message on Monday morning, shortly after the school day began.
“Beginning Monday, we will have a substitute teacher cover Mr. Henrikson’s class. We are actively working to place a District approved and qualified teacher in the class as soon as possible, and we’re confident the right person will be joining us soon,” the message read.
Since Jeanine Rupert, a beloved teacher of more than two decades, was reassigned to another Sacramento City Unified School District site early this school year, a passionate group of parents, students and teachers have rallied for her return to Phoebe Hearst. Henrikson, who has taught in the district for 15 years, has been a key voice in the movement to reinstate Rupert.
“It was an unprecedented decision to destroy Mrs. Rupert and to tear apart our sixth-grade program for such nonsense,” Henrikson wrote in a Sept. 23 email to Sacramento City Unified administrators and board members.
Rupert was reassigned to a different school after she removed a piece of carpet following a flea infestation in her classroom near the end of last school year. The carpet covered tile that, if disturbed, could expose children to asbestos, however a district spokesperson told KCRA that the removal of the carpet did not cause asbestos exposure.
Henrikson and a league of current and former Phoebe Hearst parents have organized several public demonstrations in an effort to get Rupert back on campus. Since Rupert was removed in early September, there have been as many as 12 substitutes teaching her class of more than 30 sixth-grade students.
“I am spent. Teaching 33 kids with a cohesive team of teachers is exhausting enough; but I have taken on 66 kids and 66 sets of parents and done the best I could, but we have failed all of them,” Henrikson wrote in the same email. “There is such a finite amount of time for these kids to enjoy this ride; these past six weeks are gone.”
Parents speculate that the district is retaliating against Henrikson for publicly advocating for his former colleague. Henrikson spoke up at several board meetings and gave interviews to multiple news outlets as the story about Rupert gained regional and national attention.
“You take away Miss Rupert, and it’s a huge impact on our kids. You also take away Mr. H — this obviously feels to us like a form of retaliation and a (violation) of his first amendment right to speak about the Rupert situation,” parent Brenda Buford said.
Henrikson declined The Sacramento Bee’s request for an interview, instead directing questions to parent Amanda Panton.
“He was a voice for her and apparently they didn’t like it,” she said. “He’s just holding people accountable and it rubbed them the wrong way.”
District spokesperson Al Goldberg said they could not comment on personnel matters.
“The district goes to great lengths to ensure all of our campuses remain safe, healthy and welcoming spaces for everyone,” he said.
One sixth-grade teacher left at Phoebe Hearst
Now, the school is left with just one sixth-grade classroom teacher. Henrikson and parents of students in Rupert’s class have reported that they have cycled through up to 12 substitutes.
Goldberg said that a replacement teacher was assigned to Rupert’s class on Sept. 9, but requested to be reassigned three days later. The current school climate was a factor in his decision to leave, Goldberg said.
Parents of students in Rupert’s former class have grown frustrated with the lack of instruction and structure in their children’s classroom without a consistent, qualified teacher.
Buford said that in the six weeks since Rupert left, the students haven’t taken tests or received any grades. Her daughter has started grinding her teeth and getting headaches due to the stress caused by her daily life in the classroom. The situation has become so frustrating that she is looking into options to transfer her daughter out of Phoebe Hearst to another district school.
“She’s waking up like, ‘what’s the point of going to school? I’m just going to get another worksheet,’” Buford said.
Parents of kids in Henrikson’s class see how things have played out for students in Rupert’s former class and fear that they will be subject to similar dysfunction. Parent Caitlin Beckett, whose four kids attend or have attended Phoebe Hearst, says she doesn’t know what she will do. She is still pushing the district to “do the right thing.”
“Mark Henrikson is the heartbeat of our school,” she said. “It shows us that they have no interest in our kids, they could care less about them. … All Rupert and Henrikson have done is give their lives to this school, and they’re getting punished for it.”
