A San Gabriel Unified School District teacher's aide says she was suspended without pay after bringing a “Trump-themed” backpack and water bottle to campus.
In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court, Alyssa Esquivel alleged that district officials violated her constitutional rights to free speech and state workplace protections by disciplining her for wearing personal items that referenced the former president.
She had been on paid leave for nearly a year until the district suspended her without pay in April and sent her a notice that they intended to terminate her, according to her complaint.
Superintendent James Symonds, one of the defendants named in Esquivel's lawsuit, declined to comment Friday night. But in objecting to Esquivel bringing the items to campus, officials cited a district policy stating that employees should not wear “buttons or items”[s] “clothing” campaigns that support political candidates during school hours.
In her complaint, Esquivel, an American Sign Language instructional assistant who works with deaf students, said the trouble began in June 2023, when another assistant moved Esquivel's water bottle with Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan stickers on it, saying she “didn't want Trump to look at it.”
Esquivel’s attorneys, from the Murrieta-based firm Advocates For Faith and Freedom, submitted a photo of the water bottle in court papers. A sticker shows Trump smiling above the inscription “Missed me yet?”
The next day, Esquivel said, the same aide overturned a desk and yelled that Esquivel was trying to “make fun” of her by bringing the water bottle to school again. This allegedly prompted a meeting with the principal, a teacher, Esquivel and two other aidees in which the principal stated that Esquivel could continue bringing his water bottle to school, he said.
But other assistants allegedly refused to work with Esquivel, to the detriment of deaf students who could not follow what they were being taught, she said. She filed a formal discrimination complaint with the district that month.
Then came the backpack.
Esquivel was wearing a distinctive backpack with an American flag print and the letters “TRUMP” on the front. This caught the attention of the principal, who told her not to bring the backpack or water bottle back to campus, Esquivel claimed. The principal also allegedly reprimanded her for wearing “American flag jewelry.”
At a meeting the next day, ostensibly to discuss whether Esquivel would be allowed to use her backpack, the principal “detained” her for three hours while “intermittently prioritizing other matters unrelated” to backpacks or water bottles, she claimed. According to her complaint, the principal came to a solution: Esquivel could possess the backpack and water bottle on campus, but not “display them.”
After Esquivel continued to carry the backpack and water bottle, a district official told her she could not wear “political attire” on campus, the complaint says. Esquivel said she covered the last two letters on her backpack, which now read “TRU,” and walked back to school with it.
The district official threatened Esquivel with “fines and imprisonment,” banned her from campus and placed her on paid leave, according to her complaint. Esquivel said she was escorted off school grounds by police officers.
Over the next year, attorneys representing Esquivel and her employer exchanged letters arguing over whether either side had violated district policy, California employment codes or federal laws governing free speech. In April, the district board agreed to suspend Esquivel without pay and seek to fire her, according to her complaint.
Esquivel is seeking a formal hearing with district officials over whether he violated district policies, damages, attorney fees, an admission by the district that it violated his First Amendment rights and a permanent injunction that would allow him to carry his backpack and water bottle on campus.
