A Fight in an Elevator Is Roiling Rancho Santa Fe School District

After a meeting of the Rancho Santa Fe School District’s board on June 12, four people squeezed into an elevator at the district’s office. Three of them were board members.  

It was a short descent – from the second floor to the first. But during that brief ride, two of the men got into a physical fight. The fight was between Paul Seitz, a cowboy-hat-wearing board member, and Bill Ross, husband of board president Annette Ross. According to a report by a Sheriff’s Deputy, Seitz was the aggressor. 

“Paul then shoved [Bill] into the comer of the elevator wall. Paul then tried to head butt and swing a fist at [Bill,]” the deputy wrote in a police report obtained by Voice of San Diego. 

Months later, not much has happened. While Seitz, who’s still serving on the board, feels the incident is overblown, it’s still weighing on the community. Word of what happened has spread. But the board hasn’t commented on it.  

The tension bubbled to the surface at the board’s most recent meeting, when Bill Ross referenced the incident during public comment. That veiled reference led to calls for transparency from the editorial board of a news site serving the community. 

But this recent incident wasn’t the first time Seitz has made people associated with the district feel threatened.  

Simple Battery 

The June 12 meeting of the board of Rancho Santa Fe School District, a one-school district in northern San Diego County, was a tough one. The district’s Superintendent, Tom Bennett, had resigned abruptly, a full three years before his contract expired. Board members were tasked with appointing his replacement and some disagreed about how to approach it.  

After the board meeting, Annette Ross’ husband Bill Ross arrived. He was there to take his wife, who uses a wheelchair, home. Bill Ross and Seitz began arguing in the hallway. And after Bill Ross helped his wife onto the elevator, Seitz also stepped on.  

Bill Ross did not want Seitz “to be in the elevator alone with his wife,” according to the police report, and also got on, as did board member Jee Manghani. 

It was then, with Manghani, Seitz, Bill Ross and Annette Ross on the elevator that things unraveled.  

The specifics of the accounts gathered by the sheriff’s deputy differ slightly, with some saying Seitz attempted to head butt or punch Bill Ross, but they all agree that Seitz pushed Bill Ross into the wall of the elevator where he hit his head. During the scuffle, Manghani, reaching over Annette Ross’ wheelchair, attempted to break up the pair.  

When the elevator reached the first floor, the men separated. District staff had called police after hearing a scream from the elevator, but Seitz had left by the time the deputy arrived at the school. The deputy called him on his cell phone, but Seitz did not answer, according to the report.  

Based on statements from Annette Ross, Bill Ross and Manghani, the deputy concluded that “Paul was the dominant aggressor in this incident and met and completed the crime elements of [simple battery].” 

Months later, Seitz, Annette Ross and Manghani all still serve on the district’s board. There has been no action taken to censure Seitz or get him off the board. During a recent board meeting, Bill Ross seemed to reference having received threats while delivering a public comment. 

“I’m asking the Board to recommit to their ethics pledge. My reasons include a recent altercation on a school elevator, as well as innuendos and threats with the intent to bully and intimidate,” he said during the meeting. 

Manghani also referenced the incident at the meeting, saying “The public has relayed to me that they think that the board has lost credibility with safety.” Manghani expanded on his thoughts in a statement he emailed Voice. 

“What I witnessed (and reported to the sheriff moments later) on [June 12] at the school disturbed me. Our community has high standards for our behavior as elected officials of our district, because we are role models for all the children. We have a zero-tolerance stance towards violence in our school because safety of our children is paramount to us,” Manghani wrote. 

In a statement, Annette Ross wrote, “This incident is disruptive for the district and by default brings attention away from our students who should always be the primary focus of the board.” 

‘It Was Such a Small Thing’ 

Seitz has a very different interpretation of the incident. To him, people are making a mountain out of a molehill. He said the altercation began as a light argument with Bill Ross, who he characterized as a close friend. In contrast to the witness statements and the conclusion in the sheriff’s report, Seitz also claimed the incident only escalated because of Bill Ross.  

“He kind of got in my face, kind of bumped at me and grabbed at me so I grabbed him [and we] shook each other,” Seitz said. When the elevator opened, Seitz said he handed the Rosses their belongings and said “I’ll see you guys later. Bill, I still love you man, whatever.” 

“It was such a small thing … I wasn’t mad at him,” he continued.  

Seitz claimed he and Bill Ross squashed things in a text exchange after the incident. He also claimed he’d never received a call from a Sheriff’s Deputy, as laid out in the report, and that had they been trying to get ahold of him he’d be easy to find because of his relationships with many of the officers.  

When it came to the report’s characterization of his having “met and completed the crime elements,” of simple battery, Seitz said “That’s not true. If I’m fighting someone, I’m fighting someone.” 

Seitz theorized that there may be an alternate motivation to the resurrection of the June 12 incident. Annette Ross helped him get elected the first time around, he said, and now that she’s running for reelection Seitz claims he told her he’s not sure he can back her this time around. So, to Seitz, much of the furor feels like cynical politics. 

“And I hate politics. Politics is the worst thing in the world,” he said.  

Annette Ross pushed back on Seitz’s characterizations, of the altercation and the political motivations.  

“My best recollection of the events is stated in the police report as it was taken soon after the incident took place,” she wrote in a statement. 

“There is no political maneuvering on my part. I’ve made no attempts to further this dispute as I find it extremely unfortunate. I will continue to give my very best for the students.” 

‘Fearful You Were Going to Become Physically Violent’ 

But the June incident wasn’t the first time Seitz acted aggressively toward people associated with the district. Back in 2019, before Seitz was elected to the board, a law firm representing the Rancho Santa Fe School District issued him a demand to cease and desist “from engaging in threatening behavior toward district employees.” The letter came after multiple incidents during which Seitz screamed profanities at staff.  

In the first instance, Seitz was angered by the presence of police outside of the district’s school, screamed at the front desk receptionist and demanded to speak to then-Superintendent Donna Tripi, according to the letter.  

After being told he needed an appointment, he said he refused to wait and “proceeded to barge upstairs without authorization or permission,” where he threw open a door and “began yelling profanities in a loud and threatening tone,” the letter reads. Tripi brought Seitz to her office where he continued to scream profanities at her and purportedly said he knew board members and that “I’ll have your job!” 

According to the letter, Seitz’s “tone was so loud and aggressive,” that multiple administrators were called to respond because district staff was “fearful you were going to become physically violent.” 

In a second incident two days later, Seitz called the school and demanded to speak to Tripi once again. When he was told Tripi wasn’t available, he told staff he was coming to the school and would be there in 10 minutes.  

“In anticipation of you arriving and because of her concerns about your prior threatening behavior, Superintendent Tripi went outside to the front of the school where a Rancho Santa Fe Patrol person and CHP law enforcement officer were present,” the letter reads. 

When Seitz arrived, he once again screamed profanities at Tripi, this time within earshot of students and parents, according to the letter. 

“Your above-described behavior resulted in District employees feeling unsafe and threatened by you. The purpose of this letter is to advise you that your threatening conduct is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the letter reads. “Please be advised that if you refuse to comply with this cease and desist and/or you engage in future misconduct, we will pursue any and all available legal remedies.”  

Seitz also has explanations for these incidents, saying he was upset that officers were parked in the parking lot rather than surveying an area down the road where a child had been hit earlier that year. When he approached Tripi about who asked officers to patrol the parking lot, he said he got mixed messages and felt she was lying to him. 

He doesn’t deny cursing but claimed, contrary to the letter issued later, that he didn’t actually bother anyone.  

“Everyone thought I was speaking up and speaking my mind,” Seitz said. 

Two years later, Seitz ran for the board and narrowly defeated his incumbent opponent.