The Abridged version:<\/p>\n
Jeanine Rupert, a former sixth grade teacher at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, is suing Sacramento City Unified, saying she was unfairly punished for removing dilapidated carpet from her classroom.<\/p>\n
Rupert\u2019s attorney has said previously she is seeking $2.3 million in damages, but that a final amount would be decided by a jury.<\/p>\n
The recent lawsuit names the school district, school board and administrators, including the former and interim superintendents.<\/p>\n
Jeanine Rupert, a former teacher at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School who became the center of controversy after students helped her strip carpet from her classroom last year, is suing the Sacramento City Unified School District.<\/p>\n
The sixth-grade educator previously filed an administrative claim seeking $2.3 million<\/a> from the cash-strapped district<\/a>. The district\u2019s rejection of the claim opened the door for the lawsuit.<\/p>\n The lawsuit, filed Friday by her lawyer James Jones, does not specify an amount but does call for damages including lost wages, emotional distress and attorney\u2019s fees. Rupert\u2019s complaints against Sacramento City Unified include discrimination based on race and gender.<\/p>\n \u201cThe bureaucratic administrators dug in their heels \u2026 and a fine teacher was burned at the Any amount awarded will ultimately be up to a jury to decide.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Sacramento City Unified did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n \u2018Carpet-gate\u2019 angered parents<\/p>\n Rupert opted to pull up the aged and stained carpet flooring once years of work requests and other appeals to the district had gone unanswered, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n The district, in HR documents, has accused Rupert of causing over $20,000 in damage. More than half of that amount went towards asbestos testing, a step Rupert\u2019s lawyer argues was unnecessary and used to justify her \u201coutrageous\u201d consequences.<\/p>\n Rupert was transferred to another school in the district and, according to the legal filing, she was told not to be on district property or associate with district employees.<\/p>\n Sacramento City Unified officials also took issue with the involvement of Rupert\u2019s students in the carpet removal. <\/p>\n At least three students used \u201chammers and a crowbar(s)\u201d to help their teacher pull up the worn flooring, according to district documents.<\/p>\n \u201cYour negligence and total disregard for the safety and well being of the students and staff of Phoebe Hearst Elementary, has had a direct negative impact on the community,\u201d an HR notice from August read.<\/p>\n Rupert\u2019s attorney pushed back, writing students volunteered to help, with tools that the kids had already used in other projects around the school, such as trimming brushes and building picnic tables.<\/p>\n Complaints of discrimination<\/p>\n Rupert\u2019s lawsuit names the school district, school board and specific current or previous administrators, including former Superintendent Lisa Allen and interim Superintendent Cancy McArn.<\/p>\n Among her complaints is that the district treated her unfairly based on her gender.<\/p>\n Two male teachers had taken the step to remove carpet in their classroom, before Rupert\u2019s action, according to the suit. Her colleagues did not face similar discipline. The document does not specify whether the district was aware of the other teachers\u2019 earlier actions.<\/p>\n Parents of Rupert\u2019s former students flooded school board meetings last fall, demanding her return. Trustees have said repeatedly the issue falls outside their direct jurisdiction. <\/p>\n Savannah Kuchar\u00a0is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Abridged version: Jeanine Rupert, a former sixth grade teacher at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, is suing Sacramento…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":267881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7999,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-267880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-highlight","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/267881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
stake like a Salem witch,\u201d her lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n