Jeanine Rupert, a sixth-grade teacher who taught at Phoebe Hearst Elementary in Sacramento, Calif., is “incredibly distraught,” her family says
NEED TO KNOW
- Jeanine Rupert, a sixth-grade teacher who taught at Phoebe Hearst Elementary in Sacramento, Calif., was reassigned after she reportedly pulled up a carpet in her classroom that covered tiles containing asbestos
- An investigation by the school district found the carpet removal did not disturb the tiles that would lead to potential asbestos exposure for the students
- “My sister did what a caring teacher ought to do – she tried to fix the problem,” Kathryn O’Brien, Rupert’s sibling, tells PEOPLE
The family of a popular, longtime California sixth-grade teacher who was reassigned after she removed a piece of carpeting in her classroom that covered asbestos tiles is saying that the school district’s move has left her distraught.
“It absolutely devastated her,” Tim O’Brien, the father of former Phoebe Hearst Elementary school teacher Jeanine Rupert, tells PEOPLE. “Usually when I talk to her, she’s jovial and friendly. But I can’t talk to her about this to an extent without having tears come to her eyes.”
The incident involving Rupert, 48, and Phoebe Hearst Elementary occurred toward the end of last school year, when the school experienced a flea infestation, NBC affiliate KCRA and ABC affiliate KXTV reported. It was then, according to sixth-grade parents, that Rupert pulled up part of the carpet…