Teacher’s aide accuses San Gabriel school district of punishing her for ‘Trump-themed’ backpack

A San Gabriel Unified School District teacher’s aide claims she was suspended without pay after bringing a “Trump-themed” backpack and water bottle onto 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 labor protections in disciplining her for carrying 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 notice they intended to fire her, according to her complaint.

Supt. James Symonds, one of the defendants named in Esquivel’s suit, declined to comment Friday evening. But in objecting to Esquivel‘s bringing the items on campus, officials cited a district policy stating employees should not wear “buttons or article[s] of clothing” that support political candidates during instructional time.

In her complaint, Esquivel, an American Sign Language instructional aide who works with deaf students, said the issue began in June 2023, when another aide moved Esquivel’s water bottle with Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan stickers, saying she “didn’t want Trump looking” at her.

Esquivel’s lawyers, from the Murrieta-based firm Advocates For Faith and Freedom, filed a photograph of the water bottle in court documents. One sticker shows a smiling Trump above the words, “Miss me yet?”

The next day, Esquivel claimed, the same aide flipped over a desk, yelling that Esquivel was trying to “taunt” her by bringing the water bottle to school again. This allegedly prompted a meeting with the principal, a teacher, Esquivel and two other aides in which the principal affirmed that Esquivel could continue bringing her water bottle to school, she claimed.

The other aides, however, allegedly refused to work with Esquivel — to the detriment of deaf students who couldn’t follow what was being taught, she claimed. She filed a formal discrimination claim with the district that month.

Then came the backpack.

Esquivel wore a distinctive backpack with an American flag pattern and the letters “TRUMP” across the front. It caught the notice of the principal, who told her not to bring the backpack or the water bottle to campus again, Esquivel claimed. The principal also allegedly rebuked her for wearing “American flag-themed jewelry.”

At a meeting the next day, ostensibly to discuss whether Esquivel would be allowed to wear her backpack, the principal “detained” her for three hours while “intermittently prioritizing other affairs unrelated” to backpacks or water bottles, she claimed. According to her complaint, the principal arrived at 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 couldn’t wear “political attire” on campus, the complaint says. Esquivel said she covered up the last two letters on her backpack, which now read “TRU,” and returned with it to school.

The district official threatened Esquivel with “fines and imprisonment,” banned her from campus and put her on paid leave, her complaint says. Esquivel claimed police officers escorted her off school grounds.

Over the next year, lawyers representing Esquivel and her employer traded letters arguing over whether either party had violated district regulations, California employment codes or federal laws governing protected speech. In April, the district’s 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 on whether she breached district policies, damages, attorneys’ fees, an admission by the district that it infringed on her 1st Amendment rights, and a permanent injunction that would allow her to carry her backpack and water bottle on campus.