Jonathan Hubbard, Graphic Design teacher and former ASB Advisor at McClatchy, has come under recent scrutiny after a long-term absence and alleged inappropriate use of social media.
Hubbard has been consistently absent from school since mid October. It is unclear whether he has been put on paid leave, medical leave, or is simply absent. When asked the status of Hubbard’s employment, Principal Peter Lambert referred The Prospector to Alex Barrios the Chief Communications Officer for the District. Lambert refused to comment further.
“This is a confidential personnel matter. The district does not discuss confidential personnel matters with the media,” said Barrios.
“It’s really just been causing a lot of stress and a lack of motivation amongst the class. It’s embarrassing to us that adults outside of ASB that we go through in order to fundraise are ghosted by him and have to rely on us to get things done,” said ASB President Daisy Lewis (‘19).
Hubbard runs a popular Instagram account with over 1,000 followers, many of whom are students at McClatchy. His daily Instagram stories are often long, some days with over 30 posts.
“He’s been posting a lot of pictures of half-naked and naked women and captions with them that barely make sense…he even posts pictures of Kendall Jenner asking her to hit him up,” said Natalie Temby (‘19), a student in ASB.
The Prospector has procured screen recordings of a selection of these Instagram stories. In one story, he re-posted an image from the account “@12youngsavage_” wherein a woman is seen bending over with only underwear on. He posted this with the caption “9 or 10?” and a sliding “thumbs up” scale so his followers could participate in rating the model.
The account also depicts him partaking in regular substance use, particularly marijuana.
Some current and former students have received direct messages from Hubbard. He has asked at least one student to meet up with him outside of school. The underage student will not be named due to the sensitive nature of this topic.
“It’s just weird and makes me feel super uncomfortable whenever he comes back…I already felt weird when he showed up one day in ASB. Like he just seems really creepy right now,” said Temby.
When asked if the District had comment on the behavior Hubbard has displayed on his social media, Alex Barrios stated that they were “Not aware” of such conduct, and that “personnel matters are confidential.”
This month, Hubbard posted to his story a video of himself in which he claimed that he was in trouble with the law. “It used to be that people stood for something and they weren’t all corrupt to the highest possible level,” he said. “The evil is real, people. Which is probably why I have a warrant out for my arrest right now, which is really weird because all I do is help kids.”
In documents obtained from the Superior Court of California the Prospector has learned that Hubbard has a court date later this month, wherein his former spouse has filed a Civil Complaint alleging Domestic Violence. No more details surrounding this case are currently available, as the file is in the judge’s chambers pending the hearing.
Lori Jablonski, a social studies teacher and Sacramento City Teachers Association Representative at McClatchy said in response to these events, “The union has a duty to ensure due process for its teachers. That their due process is protected, that their rights are protected. But we also have a duty to make sure that our students who we serve are protected, and I will say that we have done both.”
“I can say that the union reps were, I believe, the first people who alerted the district, in some sort of official way to there being a real problem,” added Jablonski.
Symone Gaston (‘19), said in response to this article being written, “I love Hubbard. He’s obviously going through personal things…I think this paper students are writing towards him is stupid. He’s only 30, he has a full life ahead of him and some stupid…students are going to try and ruin his entire life and put him in jail.”
“There are so many people affected by this. I understand that his situation is serious, but I don’t think that that makes up for the feelings we have about his absence and what is being done about it,” said Daisy Lewis.
UPDATE:
Since the publishing of this article, Jonathan Hubbard has been charged with two counts of willful and knowing violation of a court order and stalking another person with the intent to cause fear, and has been held in custody since January 14th awaiting a court hearing. Hubbard has not been convicted of any crime.
The District would not comment, though did confirm that Hubbard has been put on a leave of absence.