Teacher behind anti-military classroom rant fired

After two months of unpaid leave, Gregory Salcido has been fired following a unanimous vote by the El Rancho Unified School District School Board. Salcido has the option to appeal the decision but has not indicated whether or not he will do so (the vote just happened last night), and has only stated that it would inappropriate of him to comment until he's officially notified.

Some of you may remember that Salcido went on a profanity laden tirade in a high school classroom after seeing a military hoodie that one of his students was wearing. Thread here.

Salcido has since "clarified" his comments as only meant to point out that those who aren't "stellar students" often find the military to be a good option, and despite describing the military as "the lowest of the low" he didn't mean his comments as a criticism of anybody. Despite saying "if you join the military it's because your parents didn't love you enough and you didn't love yourself enough" his comments weren't an attack on anybody's moral character.

Personally, while I find his original comments to be wildly off-base, and inappropriate especially in the manner of delivery and in the setting they were delivered in, he's entitled to his opinion of me and others who put on that uniform at one point or another. But the fact that he doesn't have the stones to stand by his own recorded for posterity words but attempts to portray himself as a victim here says a lot about him.

And yes, that's a comment on his moral character.

WaPo article.

Fox article

I don't disagree with the decision, although I do understand where his opinion comes from.

Indoctrinating other people's children into beliefs that are off the lesson plan and critical of the parental relationship is the exact opposite of what an educator should do.

a reply to: Shamrock6


Ummm...I agree...with the following caveat...I totally support his right to say whatever he chooses to say and express his opinion...Just not in the classroom where his opinion might get in the way of facts...and sway often impressionable young minds in an adverse manner...

On a side note...I think you need to relinquish your death grip on that turkey leg...for the sake of your arteries...







YouSir

a reply to: Shamrock6

Good.

I don't need to comment much more on that.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Interestingly, it seems that this fella has a bit of a history of talking smack to his students, to the point that he's gotten multiple complaints and suspensions thanks to his behavior. Which makes the fact that he admitted to smacking a student in the back of the head but then denied using profanity when speaking to the same student kind of amusing.

Somehow, in every instance, he managed to bring up his "status" as a politician as being why people were angry with him. One of life's perpetual victims, it seems.

a reply to: Shamrock6

The guy was a dick. Probably still is.

But he has a right to his opinion.

I disagree with the firing.

Double post

While i think the teacher is an *ATS EDIT* I don't think the teacher should be fired. I believe in total freedom of speech in a classroom...as long as everyone gets to speak. Everyone should do a paper on the topic and read them out loud

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
While i think the teacher is an *ATS EDIT* I don't think the teacher should be fired. I believe in total freedom of speech in a classroom...as long as everyone gets to speak. Everyone should do a paper on the topic and read them out loud

as a taxpayer paying into my local school district, i cannot disagree with this enough. If i want my kids miseducated ill do it myself. I'd rather the teachers stick to the lesson plans.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Shamrock6

The guy was a dick. Probably still is.

But he has a right to his opinion.

I disagree with the firing.

A week after the cops were shot/killed in Dallas I had an employee tell a Dallas police officer who was visiting our community that "we don't like cops here".

I fired her 10 minutes later, after another employee overheard him complaining about it to another cop he was meeting.

When youa re on the clock, you don't get freedom of speech.

a reply to: DBCowboy

I'm sure he is a dick, judging by his comments.

I have no problem with a school board terminating one of their employees that can't seem to stop belittling and attacking students in his or her care. Which is what got him fired, rather than his opinions.

I send my kids to school to get an education, not to be personally attacked by an adult.

a reply to: Shamrock6

Yeah, he seems like that type, and what's interesting is that I don't recall any of my teachers being that way all through my schooling. Of course, I graduated HS in '97, so it was before all of the entitlement children grew up and became teachers, I suppose--and this was out in California, so that's saying something.

After the military I did my 4 years of college, and in the art department, there were a lot of teachers like that, so I suppose that it isn't necessarily all about which generation you grow up in, but the beliefs and ideologies to which you clings as you mature that dictate how you act.

originally posted by: bigfatfurrytexan

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
While i think the teacher is an *ATS EDIT* I don't think the teacher should be fired. I believe in total freedom of speech in a classroom...as long as everyone gets to speak. Everyone should do a paper on the topic and read them out loud

as a taxpayer paying into my local school district, i cannot disagree with this enough. If i want my kids miseducated ill do it myself. I'd rather the teachers stick to the lesson plans.

Yep.

Stick to the lesson plan. Hell, you wanna go on a rant about how terrible America was for how it handled westward expansion? Knock yourself out.

But when you start insulting students and their parents and other relatives on a personal level? Yea that's a hard "no" from me.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan


Tough example. I'll have to think about that.


My go-to default is to always side with free expression.


Always.

When free expression becomes conditional, then it's not really free expression.

a reply to: DBCowboy

When free expression becomes conditional, then it's not really free expression.

If they had "free expression" in that profession there would be no district approved curriculum.
Or are you ok with science teachers teaching the bible?

a reply to: SlapMonkey

I can't recall having teachers that went off the rails like this fella did, either.

I do recall having not one but two teachers try to talk me out of enlisting. But they did so in a manner that didn't make me feel attacked over my choice. To be blunt, one was almost motherly about it and the other was almost fatherly about it. But even after those conversations went nowhere, they continued like nothing had changed.

originally posted by: SocratesJohnson
While i think the teacher is an *ATS EDIT* I don't think the teacher should be fired. I believe in total freedom of speech in a classroom...as long as everyone gets to speak. Everyone should do a paper on the topic and read them out loud

That's rather silly--if that were the case, no teacher would have control of the classroom setting because the students would be allowed to dictate every topic of discussion.

The irony is that you just said that you believe in total freedom of speech, but then want to dictate to the students what they need to write about.

That is contradictory. "Total freedom of speech in a classroom" amounts to anarchy.

This is how a classroom should be run:

(yes, that's mostly a joke, as discussion is paramount to learning, but you get my point, I hope)

a reply to: DBCowboy

Teachers in California(and generally everywhere in the US) have conditions on their employment. One of those conditions is to not do what he did. He just happens to be the guy who got caught doing it.

I don't really care if he hates me for serving, I just wouldn't want him to tell my kids that their father is a low scum human being for having served. Teachers are NOT allowed to do that anywhere, but often, because of the liberal echo chamber in many public schools, these types of things go completely unreported.

a reply to: Shamrock6

The guy sounds unhinged and probably shouldn't really be teaching anyway... But the actual point he was trying to get across would have been good advise, if he had of done it in a more mentally stable manner.

Nothing wrong with teachers attempting to inspire kids to strive higher... In fact, its kinda what their supposed to do.

a reply to: Shamrock6

And I think that's where things have gone wrong with the school system--teachers really aren't allowed to act like that anymore because they are overwhelmed with the amount of mandatory tests and amount of curriculum that they can't take the time to have meaningful discussions with kids anymore, not to mention the fear that is out there about doing so alone with a student and what that student may accuse a teacher of these days.

But as it pertains to this fella, he's just a no-talent assclown that used the front of his class to be a bully. I don't get the feeling that he would have tried to have meaningful conversations with anyone unless it was about not knowing whether to vote for Sanders or Clinton.