A Southern California high school teacher who was caught on camera denigrating the intelligence of people serving in the US military to his students has been fired.
On Tuesday evening, the Unified School District made a unanimous decision to fired El Rancho High School history teacher Gregory Salicdo, 49, reported the Los Angeles Times.
‘His comments do not reflect what we stand for, who we are,’ said Board of Education President Aurora Villon.
‘The classroom should never be a place where students feel that they are picked at, bullied, intimidated.’
In the video, which was stealthily recorded in class by a 17-year-old high school senior in January, Salcido can be heard making a variety of unflattering remarks about service people, at one point calling them the ‘lowest of the low’.
El Rancho High School history teacher Gregory Salicdo, 49 (pictured), who was caught on camera denigrating the intelligence of people serving in the US military to his students has been fired
In the video, which was recorded in class by a 17-year-old high school senior in January, the California teacher (pictured) can be heard making a variety of unflattering remarks about service people, at one point calling them the ‘lowest of the low’
The videos went viral after being posted on Facebook by a Connecticut woman claiming to be a friend of the mother of the student who recorded the clip
Although the videos – shot from under a desk – do not show Salcido’s face, El Rancho High officials confirmed to The Orange County Register that the person speaking in the video is in fact Salcido and that the video was shot in a school classroom.
In one of the clips, Salcido can be heard saying: ‘Think about the people who you know are over there. Your freakin’ stupid Uncle Louie or whatever. They’re dumb s***ts. They’re not like high-level thinkers. They’re not academic people. They’re not intellectual people.’
He then says that overseas service people are ‘the freakin’ lowest of our low. Not morally – I’m not saying they make bad moral decisions – they’re not talented people.’
As he speaks, students can be heard laughing in the background.
The rant seems to have been sparked in reaction to a student who wore a Marines shirt.
The videos went viral after being posted on Facebook by a Connecticut woman claiming to be a friend of the mother of the student who recorded the clip.
‘My friends [sic] son was sporting his marine sweater while this liberal douche teacher rants about the military,’ Kimberlie Flauto wrote on Facebook on Friday, while exhorting people to ‘help me make this go viral.’
Of the military, Salcido (pictured) was also recorded saying: ‘They’re dumb s***ts. They’re not like high-level thinkers. They’re not academic people. They’re not intellectual people’
The rant seems to have been sparked in reaction to a student who wore a Marines shirt (Pictured, El Rancho High School)
Salcido faced severe backlash following the comments. with thousands of emails flooding the school board and people attending meetings, calling on the teacher to step down.
Salcido, who is also a Pico Rivera councilman, apologized at a City Council meeting in February, and tried explaining that his comments ‘had nothing to do with their moral character’ reported the LA Times.
The student who record Salicdo, identified by KTLA as Victor Quinonez, told Fox News that his teacher as ‘a history of being anti-military’.
‘Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but at the same time they shouldn’t be disrespecting the veterans who have fought for our rights, who give up their lives and do stuff that other people are not willing to do,’ Quinonez, who says he wants to be a Marine, told the news organization.
Salcido faced severe backlash following the comments, with thousands of emails flooding the school board and people attending meetings, calling on the teacher to step down (Pictured, US Army veteran Raul Rodriguez Jr addresses Salcido, February 2018)
Salcido (pictured, February 2018), who is also a Pico Rivera councilman, apologized and tried explaining that his comments ‘had nothing to do with their moral character’
Salcido has allegedly had previous issues with students.
He was placed on paid administrative leave after police received a complaint that he had hit a student in 2012.
Before that, in 2010, a parent alleged that Salcido threatened his daughter, insulted other students and parents and made inappropriate comments about race during a summer school class.
Salcido denied the claims, but was suspended from teaching until the fall semester started.