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.
9 replies on “Questions Raised About McClatchy Teacher’s Absence And Social Media Use”
This is very invasive towards his personal life. while he may be posting on a public platform i think it’s a bit sister suspicious how you know what he’s attending court for. he’s obviously going through a tough time like a midlife crisis or even something mentally serious. mcclatchy is known to “care” about mental health and to write an artical about someone who’s clearly not in the right mind is sister shady. it’s a fact that no one knows what the prospector is so is that what you need to do for attention?? maybe if the article focused more on him and the student it would be more acceptable. if you are creeped out by him this sounds like a problem you need to take up with school authorities (who don’t do much). thanks for coming to my ted talk and that’s the tea sis, xoxo gossip girl
Going through a midlife crisis/being mentally unstable should not be used to excuse the fact that he stalked a student and violated his court order. You’re just being plain ‘SISTER STUPID’. Many alumni of McClatchy have felt uncomfortable with him, so this article is confirming their beliefs about him. Research concerning the criminal history of Hubbard was done justly, due to the fact that his behavior concerns the safety of other students. Now that’s the ‘REAL TEA sis’. Looks like I spilled it and burned you.
By no fault of your own, in authoring this article you are replicating the same smut and sensationalist media tactics that you’ve likely been ingesting for all of your adolescent life. However, journalistic integrity does not align ethically with a slanted, poorly-researched and overtly ad hominem critique. You have every editorial right to procure insightful criticism of a professional’s work performance. You have crossed a line when you dig into that person’s personal affairs (rather shallowly at that) and parade it to the public as news. That is the province of tabloid and magazine columnists, my dear. I am sorry that you cannot see that what you have written is entirely misguided and cyclical — You are perpetuating printed gossip as news. Again, it’s not your fault. A faculty advisor should have had the better sense to help you edit this appropriately.
How is this the “province of tabloid…columnists”? Public school teachers pillars of society and when they allow students to follow them on social media, it affects the students. Nothing in the article is speculation or hearsay. There is proof to back everything up. This teacher is asking students to meet up with him outside of school. He is posting wildly inappropriate material on a site which he has accepted underage followers. It is the responsibility of the press to relay the truth regardless of how ugly it is. You can’t possibly call this article “poorly researched.” That is just a misguided accusation meant to discredit what it is truly about. This teacher knows and encourages his students to follow him on Instagram, so what he posts in that public forum is justifiably scrutinized along with his (lack of) job performance. This is not gossip. It is the ugly truth.
Gossip…. but whatever makes people read, I guess… you don’t know what happened but keep assuming and spreading gossip…..
To the “Anonymous” poster on December 22 & January 25, 2019 I agree that journalists need to be held on reporting facts. It appears that the author of this article provided just that;
1. Not consistently showing up for work
2. Students do not feel comfortable around said teacher
3. Teacher is posting questionable items on social media where he is accepting friend requests from minor students
4. Invited a minor to meet with him in a non-school environment
5. He is being charged for Domestic Violence
These facts do lead to questions as to why this inappropriate behavior is escalating. I as a parent want to know who is around my child. Is the said teacher going through something that may make him break down and go further with a student? Will the anger/violence be taken out on a mouthy student in class?
After reading the article I do not see smut journalism, I see facts being stated and what that means for our students who do not have the consistence of having a stable teacher there for guidance and direction in learning Graphic Design.
I love that students have a place to post their articles and that others will comment on them. While you are entering the adult world of speaking out, please have facts when you respond to the articles just as you request the writer of the article have. Do not use big words and say nothing. You can be respectful and still disagree. Explain why you disagree. This teacher may have been a great person to you but what about others? Your generation has grown up with nudity, sex, and drugs as not being a big deal on television and the movies. This had really made a society that everything should be accepted as ok. This makes me sad……..
Mental illness is real. Hubbard would have NEVER done these things in a clear state of mind, and anyone who’s spent 5 minutes with him knows that.
You know what else is real? This articles’ damage to his reputation. And for what? You didn’t have a teacher show up at a public school? Get in line! He made ex students feel unfcomfortable while going through a mental breakdown? Imagine what he was going through as he was he was posting that stuff. As far as anyone knows none of his posts or actions regarding students or McClatchy were illegal, so I am really at a loss as to what this articles purose is. I urge you to take this article down and let him get well.
Mental illness does not excuse predatory behavior.
Saying he wouldn’t “normally” do this is ignorant and dangerous. He DID all of the things stated in the article. That is the fact. Therefore your assessment is null. Mentally ill or not, he is not fit to be a teacher or to be around underaged kids.
Jonathan was convicted of felony charges in April.