The Ranting Teacher/City Councilperson - Part II

When the news broke about how history teacher/Pico Rivera City Councilman Gregory Salcido had gone off on a rant about the military in his classroom, I wrote the original blog in the above title.  He was fired from his position as a teacher on March 31st and now the report of the investigation that led up to his firing has been released.  It was published in an article in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

According to the report, Salcido:

• Had nude images of women on his work computer, which had been deleted;
• Had an image of a young boy pulling on a sumo wrestler’s “thong like garment,” which had been deleted;
• Told students it should not be illegal to download “kiddy porn”;
• Told students they had the right to kill themselves;
• Told students he would kill everyone in the classroom if it were required to protect his family;
• Used racial slurs when talking to students;
• Regularly insulted students, including cursing at them;
• Used corporal punishment in the classroom by making students do push-ups or squats;
• Refused to follow the district’s discipline policies;
• Left campus during the school day, against his contractual requirements;
• Completed City Council business on his school district computer;
• Lied repeatedly during his interview with Hummel

That is a list of the allegations from the report that was published in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune article.

There was an incident in 2012 where he hit a student.

So why wasn't he fired then.  I know of two incidents where teachers were fired for one incident of smacking a student in very similar circumstances.  The L.A. Times article on Salcido's firing and the release of the report contains a statement from the school board president claiming the school has had three principals in the five years she has been on the board.

That is not an excuse.  A counselor at the school told the Times that she has had to move 25 students out of Salcido's classes in the last 11 years.  This was not a secret.  Salcido's behavior was not occurring in a vacuum.

He is appealing the termination.  Big surprise.