Sacramento teacher alleges retaliation, threatens legal action against district
An attorney representing a Sacramento teacher who was reassigned to a different school site after pulling up carpet in her classroom is threatening legal action if the teacher’s job is not restored.
In a letter to Sacramento City Unified School District leaders, lawyer Eric Lindstrom said that claims would be brought against the district if it does not rescind its actions against former Phoebe Hearst Elementary School teacher Jeanine Rupert, who was put under administrative leave this summer and reassigned to a different school in late August.
The attorney wrote in his letter that Rupert was not looking for monetary compensation, just the reinstatement of her position at Phoebe Hearst.
Lindstrom, on behalf of Rupert, is alleging the district retaliated against her for reporting unsafe classroom and conditions and publicly opposing school site administrators’ plans to eliminate full-day kindergarten at Phoebe Hearst. They are also alleging sex-based discrimination, claiming that male teachers and administrators have done more substantial renovation than remove carpeting without similar discipline.
“Ms. Rupert’s classroom was not safe and conducive to learning because of the filthy, infested, frayed, and bubbling carpet in the corner of her classroom. She reported her concerns and asked the District to remedy the conditions. When her concerns were publicized, District administrators were embarrassed and then retaliated against her,” Lindstrom wrote in the letter.
Rupert’s advocates claim that the school suffered a flea infestation so severe that the children began calling it “Fleabe Hearst.” In his letter to the district, Lindstrom said that despite multiple requests to have the carpet removed, the flea infestation became so severe that parents were afraid to send their children to school, and those that did suffered from flea bites.
The teacher opted to try taking up the carpet herself on the last day of school, but later submitted a work order after the job turned out to be too difficult to complete herself, the letter reads. In response, she was placed on administrative leave.
The district claims that the tiles beneath the carpet contained asbestos, and that the disciplinary action they took against Rupert was in response to a “lapse in judgment.”
“Good teachers — just like all good people — can experience lapses in judgment and deserve a fair opportunity to atone, start over, and thrive in a new setting,” a district spokesperson said in a statement to ABC10.
Rupert was involuntarily reassigned to another school in the district, but has since gone on medical leave due to depression and anxiety. She reportedly took a pay cut of $16,000 when transferring schools because over-enrollment allowed her to earn more than the typical salary schedule.
“We do not believe the District’s claims that Ms. Rupert’s carpet was in ‘good’ condition; that she exposed students to unsafe conditions; that she risked exposing students to asbestos; or that Ms. Rupert’s partial removal of carpet should have cost the District thousands of dollars,” Lindstrom wrote in his letter to the district.
Lindstrom and Rupert denied requests for comment, with the former citing a “gag order” to keep his client from speaking publicly.
“Ms. Rupert cannot make any statements because the district has threatened her to ‘maintain confidentiality,’” he said. “While I think that gag order is clearly unlawful, she is complying with the directive.”
District spokesperson Al Goldberg declined to comment on the threatened legal action.
“We have said all we are going to say about this situation,” he said.
Continued advocacy for Phoebe Hearst teachers
Rupert’s departure from Phoebe Hearst has caused an uproar in the community — students, parents and teachers have relentlessly campaigned at board meetings and through school walkouts to get the 24-year-serving teacher back into her classroom. One of her most vocal advocates, fellow sixth-grade Gifted and Talented Education teacher Mark Henrikson, was recently put on administrative leave, a move that many parents think was an act of retaliation for publicly advocating for Rupert’s return.
The activism on the teachers’ behalf continued Friday at the Phoebe Hearst Jog-A-Thon fundraiser, where dozens of sixth-grade students bore flash tattoos and signs in support of both Rupert and Henrikson. Jog-A-Thon chair Caitlin Beckett said she helped the kids organize the demonstration after sponsors told her they wanted to pull out of the event after following the news about Rupert.
“It was a win-win because the kids still got the enrichment and the sponsors were all for (the demonstration),” Beckett said.
Earlier this week, a group of more than 300 parents co-signed a letter to Sacramento City Unified and Sacramento City Teachers Association leaders requesting a town hall meeting to discuss their concerns about the removal of Rupert and Henrikson. Superintendent Lisa Allen declined their request Friday afternoon.
“We understand the request for a town hall meeting and appreciate the desire for dialogue. At this time, however, we do not have additional information to share beyond what has already been communicated. The personnel matter involving Mrs. Rupert has been concluded with due process, and she has been reassigned to another school,” Allen wrote.
She also wrote that a new permanent teacher will be assigned to Rupert’s class and that they are working to secure a long-term substitute for Henrikson’s.
Parent and letter author Kimberly Mulligan said that the response felt like a gut punch.
“It just feels like district bureaucracy making choices in opposition to their mission as educators,” Mulligan said. “To not even be willing to meet — it’s just really disappointing.”
Beckett echoed Mulligan’s reaction to the denial.
“We asked for a town meeting so they could hear our thoughts and we could dialogue through their response together. Per their response, they claim open communication yet refuse to engage,” she said.
Despite the roadblock, Mulligan said that she and other parents plan to continue advocating for the sixth-grade teachers, which may include organizing a school walkout.
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM.
