A third-party investigator hired by the El Monte City School District found that board member David Siegrist sent harassing emails and a text message to a gay counterpart in a neighboring school district suggesting he was “most certainly exposed to AIDS and HIV” due to his “lifestyle,” according to a newly revealed letter.
The district investigated the matter after El Monte Union High School District Trustee Florencio Briones filed a formal complaint about it in March 2021. The text messages resurfaced earlier this month when Siegrist backed a recall effort against Briones alleging the El Monte Union High trustee had, among other allegations, falsely accused “residents of being homophobic.”
The Southern California News Group obtained a copy of a letter sent to Briones by the district summarizing the outcome of the investigation. The El Monte City School District independently verified the letter’s authenticity.
“The investigator concluded that Mr. Siegrist did in fact send you multiple emails and text messages and persisted in communicating with you after you requested that he stop,” wrote Lisette Mendez-Garcia, president of the El Monte City School District board, in the letter. “The investigator further concluded that one of the text messages Mr. Siegrist sent you regarding your ‘lifestyle’ could be construed as homophobic and fall in the category of hate speech.”
Siegrist has publicly denied making any homophobic remarks, including most recently at an El Monte City Council meeting where he called Briones a liar. In an interview, Siegrist acknowledged sending the text, but maintains he was expressing sincere concern for his political rival’s health.
“I know people who have died from that, that’s not homophobia,” Siegrist said. “I was concerned about his safety. If a person is gay these days, they need to be very careful.”
Siegrist, a Vietnam War veteran, said he served in the U.S. Navy when service members were not allowed to be openly gay, but that he personally does not care about anyone’s lifestyle “unless they put themselves in danger in some way.”
“If I tell someone, because of their lifestyle, to be careful, I genuinely care about that person,” Siegrist added. “As far as me being a homophobe, it’s a damn lie. that’s what I’ll tell you about that.”
What the messages said
Siegrist sent a barrage of text messages to Briones on March 14, 2021, taunting Briones for allegedly asking Siegrist if he’d had a stroke. The messages include accusations that Briones lied about attending Pepperdine University — where Siegrist and his wife, El Monte Union trustee Esthela Torres de Siegrist, went to school — and state that Briones demonstrated “ignorance” by complaining about a prior spat to El Monte City Schools’ superintendent.
“Concerning your feigned concern about my health … I neglected to express my concern about yours,” Siegrist wrote in the final text message two days later. “Due to your lifestyle, you are most certainly exposed to AIDS and HIV. Better be extra, extra careful.”
Briones denies making any comment about Siegrist having a stroke. Before the texts, Briones said he called Siegrist and asked if Siegrist was OK following a separate series of unprompted emails from Siegrist with tongue-in-cheek invitations to Pepperdine alumni events. Briones did not attend Pepperdine and says the website Ballotpedia erroneously listed the school as his alma mater.
“The notion that I would ever wish for anyone to have a stroke is absolutely false; it is not something I have ever said to David Siegrist,” Briones said. “I think he’s being very disingenuous in trying to cover up the fact that he made that comment to me out of a place of anger.”
Briones is now calling for Siegrist’s resignation.
“I understand that every individual in this country has the right to free speech. But when you’re an elected representative, such as Mr. Siegrist and myself, we should be held to a higher standard,” Briones said. “Considering this individual has continued to malign my name and has now lied to the community about this situation, I would ask for him to resign from his position. I don’t think he can continue to serve as a trustee and be trusted by the community.”
Latest fight sparked by recall bid
Briones and Siegrist’s longstanding feud reignited earlier this month when Briones accused Torres de Siegrist of having a conflict of interest due to her support for a proposal to rent property owned by El Monte Union to Pasadena City College, her employer. Briones, who was censured by his colleagues in February, assisted parents in starting the process of recalling Torres de Siegrist.
A resident then served Briones with similar recall paperwork at the next meeting. The number listed as the point of contact on the documents belongs to Siegrist, though he has said he was only serving as contact person because the true proponent has issues with her cellphone.
“I am one of the victims of that idiot who accused me of homophobia,” Siegrist said at the time.
What happened with probe
The El Monte City School District board did not take any formal action against Siegrist following the conclusion of the investigation, even though his comments appear to violate a board bylaw requiring members to treat “everyone with civility and respect.”
Mendez-Garcia’s letter indicates the investigation determined Siegrist’s comments were “personal in nature and were not related to his position as a board trustee.” Therefore, she said, they were protected by his First Amendment rights.
“The District does not condone personal attacks by or against its Board members, or rhetoric that distracts from the District’s educational mission,” Mendez-Garcia wrote. “To this end, the District has and will continue to encourage its trustees to focus their efforts on respectful and productive dialogue to advance the education of District students. The exchanges between you and Mr. Siegrist are not consistent with these values.”
The letter notes that while the district is not liable for Mr. Siegrist’s conduct in an individual capacity, they planned to address the matter with the board member privately.
“Specifically, the Board is addressing your concerns with Mr. Siegrist and is in communication with him regarding the need to maintain professional decorum in his communications with members of the public, the need to conduct himself in a respectful, courteous and a professional manner, and the expectation that he model good behavior for District students and the community.”
Siegrist, who said he recalled speaking to the district’s superintendent after Briones complained, did not believe his comments warranted an investigation.
“I still don’t know why the board was involved in the first place,” he said.
