Teacher/Councilman/former Mayor Gregory Salcido in front of his current job. At least for now. Who knows what the future holds for Mr Salcido?

First, for background, the story from the LATimes.com:

Pico Rivera teacher’s remarks about military spark backlash

by Amina Khan

A Pico Rivera teacher and councilman is under investigation by the school board after the release of recordings in which he disparaged members of the military.

The remarks by Councilman Gregory Salcido, a teacher at El Rancho High School, have triggered a backlash in a community that local leaders say has strong ties to the armed forces.

“This is not something that we are taking lightly,” said Pico Rivera school board President Aurora R. Villon. “I cannot discuss it because it is a personnel matter, other than we are conducting a full-blown investigation. We are moving very diligently.”

For reference, all three videos are linked below: I highly suggest you listen to all three should you remotely doubt the veracity of this post.

• To watch Video 1, click here.
• To watch Video 2, click here.
• To watch Video 3, click here.

Salcido’s erroneous and uneducated rant reads in part:.

“We have night vision goggles and we can’t control these people wearing robes and chanklas.”

“It’s a lie our military is talented.”

“Because we have a bunch of fricken dumbshits over there. They [the military] are not high-level bankers, they are not academics, they are not intellectuals….they are the lowest of the low, think about the people you know over there, stupid uncle Louis’, they are not talented people, they are dumbshits. The data is in, we don’t have a talented military, we have not been able to beat people with robes.”

“We could not beat the Vietnamese…. they are people this fucking big THROWING RICE at us, we could not beat people since World War II, it’s a lie that a military is bitchen.”

It’s clear that Salcido is not only erroneous, biased and uneducated, but he is also a blatant racist.

“So if you join the military you have no other options, so your parents want you off their ass, your grandparents want you off their ass for four or six years, and they want the neighbors to think you did well.”

Are you aware that they have a GPA of zero point zero?

“I don’t know why they let recruiters come here they lie to you, we don’t let pimps come to the school, why let them say anybody want to be a whore?”

“The recruiters lie to you, if you are interested in college why would you ever consider the military?”

“They pay for college, bullshit, they give you all this bullshit to see the world, you are not going to college.”

“You remember seeing people jumping out of the trade center, why did they do that? Burn or jump? Do you want to eat dog shit or cat shit? They would rather jump.”

“The data is in they are the lowest of the low, why we don’t win.”

“Why do we have stupid fucking bombers fly over during events, that’s what we kill people with and we cheer them on?”

“Your freakin’ stupid Uncle Louie or whatever. They’re dumbshits. They’re not high-level thinkers. They’re not academic people. They’re not intellectual people.”

“They’re the freaking lowest of our low.”

Apparently Salcido has never heard of the Citadel, the Air Force Academy or West Point, to but name a few military institutions.

From ABC7.com:

The rant was triggered by a student wearing a Marine Corps shirt.

The student who recorded Salcido’s rant a week ago was also wearing Marine clothing. He said he felt terrorized by his teacher’s words.

“And I told him it was a family tradition,” the student recalled. “My dad’s done it, my two uncles have done it. And I just wanted to continue that tradition because it’s also something I wanted to do as a kid. And he said so if it was a family tradition to beat women, would you continue it too?”

Then, from the OCRegister.com:

The videos were first posted by Kimberlie Flauto, of Connecticut, who identified herself as a friend of one of the student’s parents. Flauto asked her followers to share and make the videos go viral.

The student, a 17-year-old senior who said he wished to remain anonymous because he doesn’t want any repercussions from friends who support Salcido, said he had no intention of the video being seen by anyone else and is surprised by all the attention.

“It wasn’t meant for anyone else, but my mom shared it with a few friends and now it’s this,” he said in a phone interview Saturday.

He said he made the recording on Jan. 19 during a U.S. history class taught by Salcido.

The young man, whose father and two uncles are Marine veterans who fought in Afghanistan, Desert Storm and Vietnam, said Salcido went too far when he said those in the military were stupid and only joined as a last resort.

“It was so disrespectful to my dad and my uncles and all veterans and those still in the military,” he said.

But wait, there’s more. This isn’t Salcido’s first ignorant rodeo.

This is not the first time Salcido, 49, has come under scrutiny for behavior in the classroom.

In May 2012, he was put on paid administrative leave after the Sheriff’s Department received a complaint that he struck a student.

In July 2010, a parent complained that Salcido had threatened his daughter, made inappropriate comments to his summer school class about race and insulted other students and parents, which Salcido denied.

He was suspended until the following fall’s first day of class.

Salcido, who was first elected to the City Council in 1999, stands on the dais with his hands at his side and does not recite the pledge of allegiance along with his colleagues during meetings.

The majority of responses on the Pico Rivera Neighborhood Watch page were against what Salcido said in the videos.

Some of the comments to Flauto’s post on Facebook were made by former students, who said they weren’t surprised.

“This guy is a clown at best. I can agree with encouraging education, but not at the expense of our troops,” wrote someone named Quentin Clark. “I know plenty of college graduates who served with me. I know from my experience, I joined up out of patriotism after 9/11. This tool is also very wrong about our military being sub-standard.”

Someone named Jim Brown wrote, “This ‘educator’ is the poster child for ignorance. It’s sad that he preaches of what he obviously knows nothing about first hand. This warps the minds of our youths with false truths. He couldn’t be more wrong if he tried. Shame on you Mr. Salcido … Because of the military, I was able to live in Europe for ten years and obtain two BA degrees, all for free. I guarantee bc of the military, I’ve seen more of the world than this guy.”

And then from the DailyBreeze.com:

Anti-military rant not first time Pico Rivera councilman, teacher Gregory Salcido has been in trouble for in-class behavior

by Josh Cain

Since then, thousands of people around the country disparaged Salcido or called for his firing on Facebook and Twitter. The front desk phone at El Rancho High rang constantly Monday morning, and officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said they were monitoring a deluge of comments on social media for threats.

Before Friday’s controversy, Salcido was placed on leave by the El Rancho Unified School Distirct at least twice for his previous behavior. Here’s the timeline of his professional career:

1998: Salcido received his teaching credentials.

1999: He was elected to the Pico Rivera City Council in 1999.

2002: Salcido is rotated in as mayor. He also runs in the Democratic primary for the 38th Congressional District against two-term incumbent Grace Napolitano. He raised $62,000, compared to Napolitano’s more than $305,000.

Salcido’s upstart campaign failed, though according to a 2002 Los Angeles Times profile, the candidate used the opportunity to teach his students about the U.S. electoral process.

Salcido also used current events in Pico Rivera at the time to teach civics lessons in his classes, even if that meant wading into adult subject matters.

The same year Salcido ran for Congress, the opening of a strip club in Pico Rivera led to protests in the community. When a judge ruled that the city must allow the club to open, the teacher and councilman used the opportunity to teach his students about the U.S. Constitution, according to the L.A. Times.

2005: A parent’s complaints about a class discussion over a book Salcido assigned — which included a reference to masturbation — turned into a call to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The parent spoke to the school district about the book, “The Known World” by Edward P. Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winner, saying she found the sexual content inappropriate.

El Rancho Unified officials said at the time that they were required to turn the complaint over to sheriff’s officials because the accusations were sexual in nature. Investigators found no wrongdoing on Salcido’s part.

2010: Salcido serves another year as mayor. In July that year, Salcido was placed on temporary leaveand later suspended after a parent complained that the teacher threatened his daughter, made inappropriate comments about race and insulted other students and parents. Salcido denied the accusations, saying his comments were taken out of context.

At the time, the student, Savannah Kelly, said she was talking to a classmate when Salcido said, “shut up Kelly before I kill you.”

2012: Salcido was again placed on leave after hitting a 15-year-old El Rancho student who put his head down in class.

The student’s mother called the sheriff’s Pico Rivera station to complain that Salcido hit the boy in the back of the head during his sixth-period world history class in May of that year. Salcido admitted to hitting the student.

“I smacked him, but not with any intent to do harm,” Salcido said at the time. “I just told him to wake up.”

The student told KPCC at the time that Salcido also teased him, making fun of his weight and appearance.

2015: Salcido becomes mayor again.

Instead, perhaps an examination of the facts is in order. But before that, because the internet is what it is — that is to say, an incredible archive of the possible and the true — let us examine Salcido justify kiddie porn. I shite thee not.

Some others weigh in as well.

And a Gold Star Mom responds:

Perhaps it’s time for a salient chart.

Then there is this from Pew Research:

Military officers have considerably higher levels of educational attainment, on average, than enlisted personnel and U.S. adults. More than eight-in-ten DOD active-duty officers have at least a bachelor’s degree, including 42% who hold an advanced degree. They are four times as likely as average adults ages 18 to 44 to have completed a postgraduate degree.

The educational profile of enlisted personnel is much different. The vast majority of enlisted personnel (92%) have completed high school or some college. This compares with 60% of all U.S. adults ages 18 to 44. Fewer than one-in-ten enlisted personnel (7%) have a bachelor’s degree, compared with 19% of all adults ages 18 to 44.

In other words: Salcido is a dumb-ass.

Even worse, he takes advantage of the difference between pedagogy and androgogy.

That is to say, the difference between adult learners and young or new learners.

Salcido can play to his audience because they are callow youth. They know no better. They laugh when prompted and cry when prompted. They bestow veracity upon him “just because.” He had to do no work to curry their favor. He took advantage of their youth, inexperience and jejune naivete. His relationship with them is not unlike that of a child abuser and his victim.

His bullshit wouldn’t play so well had he stood before a class of adults and experienced skeptics. Which is why he’s even more callow and craven than previously considered. He knew precisely that he could readily appear to be the Large Scholarly Individual Standing In Front of Them. The Authority Figure. Further: he’s cool. He curses so he must be cool. Renegade. Rebel. Dissenter.

Then there is this from FoxNews.com:

Military-bashing California teacher pulled from classroom, city council duties pending investigation

by Robert Gearty

The Southern California teacher facing a firestorm after he was recorded by a student bashing the military in a profane classroom rant has been placed on administrative leave and removed from all assignments he’d be given as a city councilman.

Gregory Salcido, the El Rancho High School teacher and elected Pico Rivera city councilman, will not be able to enter the classroom while school officials conduct an investigation into the recording, the Whittier Daily News reported late Monday.

“One thing we are telling people for sure is that the commitment of the board and the superintendent and the staff is to really get to the bottom of this for the community,” School Superintendent Karling Aguilera-Fort told the paper.

Another teacher has taken over his history and government classes for the foreseeable future, he said.

What the future holds for this man is uncertain. Some persons would wish that he be fired outright. That won’t happen. Some persons hope that he would be censured and/or be subject to unpaid days off. Not necessarily.

After all.

This is California.

BZ