PICO RIVERA, Calif. -- The California teacher who sparked national outcry after saying that American troops are "the lowest of our low" has been fired, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The El Rancho Unified School District voted Tuesday to fire Gregory Salcido from El Rancho High School.
Victor Quinonez, a senior at the school, recorded video of Salcido ranting about the military and insulting service members' intelligence. The diatribe was apparently prompted in part by Quinonez' wearing a U.S. Marines sweatshirt.
A woman who is a friend of the family posted the videos of the incident on Facebook in late January.
In the video, Salcido can be heard saying, "Think about the people who you know who are over there – your freaking stupid Uncle Louie or whatever – they're dumbsh--s. They're not like high-level thinkers, they're not academic people, they're not intellectual people; they're the freaking lowest of our low. ... They're not talented people."
El Rancho Board of Education President Aurora Villon said all students should feel respected in the classroom.
"The classroom should never be a place where students feel that they are picked at, bullied, intimidated," she said.
Villon said thousands of emails flooded the school board, as veterans and relatives of military personnel from all over the world voiced their frustration with Salcido’s comments.
Salcido, 49, was placed on administrative leave in 2012 after a parent said he smacked her 15-year-old son on the back in class. Salcido told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune he did so not with intent to harm the boy but to wake him up.
And Salcido was suspended in summer 2010 after a parent alleged the teacher threatened his daughter during a summer school class and made inappropriate comments about race, the Tribune reported.
