Carpet, football investigations, Kirk controversy: Top 5 Sacramento school stories
At the beginning of 2025 Sacramento schools worked to steady themselves ahead of the uncertainty that came with a new presidential administration which sought to eradicate the Department of Education, but the biggest local education stories of the year were a matter of homegrown issues, some of them years in the making.
As schools faced challenges that came with worsening economic conditions, campus political climate issues, severe immigration enforcement and recovering pandemic-era learning loss, multiple high school football team members assaulted lower classmen. A teacher at a high-achieving elementary school was removed from her position for giving a crowbar and hammers to students to help her tear out old carpet. A charter school that claims incredible results for socioeconomically disadvantaged Black students faced multiple controversies regarding an investigation into allegations of staff misconduct and its agreement with its chartering district.
The Sacramento Bee reported these stories as well as coverage of local school boards and an ongoing budget crisis at Sacramento City Unified School District, which is sure to continue in 2026.
Here are some of the most-read local education stories of 2025.
5. Catholic school goes coed
It didn’t take long after Jesuit High School’s announcement that the historically all-boys school would start accepting girls in 2027 that aggrieved alumni and parents would fight the private school to preserve tradition.
The Catholic school cited financial challenges stemming from declining enrollment as the prevailing reason for the change. An impassioned group of parents and alumni have spent recent months raging against what leaders have repeatedly emphasized is a nonnegotiable final decision.
At a November rally in front of the school many donned red hats reading “MAKE JESUIT ALL BOYS AGAIN.” Several speakers decried the impending change because “(Jesuit) is the last place in our community that still produces (real men)” and claimed that the school wasn’t losing students due to changing regional demographics, but because the school has become a “woke environment.”
4. Football locker room assaults
Parents of Elk Grove High School football players received a letter from school administrators about troubling behavior in the school locker room in early September, offering few details about the incident but promising to address the issue with “transparency and accountability.”
The Bee obtained a video of the sexualized hazing incident, which showed a student in the corner of the locker room being repeatedly subjected to forced simulated sex acts by older students. The video was screencaptured from an Instagram story.
The Bee then obtained another video of a hazing incident that occurred a week prior at Monterey Trail High School, also in Elk Grove. The video showed around seven football players pulling the shirt and a shoe off of a younger student.
Involved players at both schools were suspended, but the videos prompted conversations about the severity of high school football hazing incidents and what can be done to prevent them. An expert said that it is important for a school or district to have clear policies prohibiting acts of hazing and to offer clear ways for students to report incidents.
3. Lincoln councilmember invokes Charlie Kirk
Following the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, participation in his organization Turning Point USA has exploded. At a Placer County high school’s inaugural Club America (TPUSA for high schools) meeting, Lincoln councilmember Holly Andreatta made controversial remarks related to Martin Luther King Jr., separation of church and state, Black pilots and her lesbian daughter.
Andreatta’s remarks, originally published by The Bee, gained viral attention and sparked outrage and calls for her resignation, plus calls to disband the club. At a Western Placer Unified School District meeting the following week, half of the speakers stood behind Andreatta and the club while the other half condemned her statements, saying they created a hostile campus environment for LGBTQ and Black students in particular.
2. How an old carpet caused a recall campaign
On the last day of school in June beloved Phoebe Hearst Elementary School teacher Jeanine Rupert spent part of the day attempting to tear up old carpeting, which she had previously requested the school to remove. After a few students armed with a crow bar and hammers tried to help her, she gave up and left the half-ripped up carpet for maintenance staff to take care of.
By the beginning of the new school year, Rupert was placed on leave for demonstrating a “disregard for taxpayer funds, policies and procedures, and the safety and well being of the students, staff and anyone who entered the classroom.”
A disciplinary letter stated that the sixth-grade teacher caused $22,000 in damages. Receipts obtained by The Bee showed that most of the cost related to repairing the classroom involved asbestos abatement and testing.
Rupert is now seeking $2.3 million in damages from the struggling district, arguing that she was inappropriately punished for attempting to create a clean, safe classroom environment.
Revelations about the damage has not stopped a parent-led campaign to reinstate Rupert and her fellow teacher Mark Henrikson, who was placed on administrative leave in October. Many parents believe that Henrikson was retaliated against for supporting his former co-teacher.
In the months since she was placed on leave, families have tirelessly rallied on the teachers’ behalf. The group ramped up their efforts when they served a notice to recall to then-Board President Jasjit Singh, who represents the area where Phoebe Hearst is located.
1. Controversy at St. Hope Public Schools
In 2024 St. Hope Public Schools got their charters renewed by Sacramento City Unified School District despite an audit that raised concerns about conflicts of interest, teacher qualifications and student outcomes. Both the audit and the letters from St. Hope community members mentioned an investigation into teacher allegations that a coach partied with students, which school leaders determined to be unfounded.
After a monthslong battle for public records, The Bee published a May investigation which showed that students at Sacramento Charter High School talked openly for months about attending parties with alcohol and drugs that were hosted by the school football coach. The first teacher to report concerns about the head football coach received a termination letter later that school year.
The Bee also reported on dean Ken Powell’s daily uploads to his YouTube channel in which he preached “traditional values” and said that women should submit to men.
The following month, when the charter and SCUSD were set to finalize the terms of their charter agreement, district board members demanded more accountability from the school, including a new investigation into the coach which is expected to be completed next month.
Teacher turnover is another sore spot for the school. The Bee reported earlier this month that St. Hope had lost 70% of its teachers between November 2024 and today.
After months of back-and-forth the two entities finally came to an agreement, but the relationship remains tense.
“My good faith and open mind were met with half-truths, false promises and backroom schemes,” Trustee Taylor Kayatta said during a December meeting. “I approached this renewal from a place of trust, transparency and honesty, but I was met with the opposite from St. Hope.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
