Florida Middle School Teacher Caught Hosting White Supremacist Podcast
Update, Sunday, 4:55 p.m.: Citrus County School District Superintendent Sandra “Sam” Himmel issued the following statement on Sunday:
On Friday, March 2, 2018 the Citrus County School District was made aware of a concerning podcast by a Huffington Post reporter. The reporter indicated they believed one of the persons participating in the podcast was a teacher at Crystal River Middle School. The Human Resources department was notified and an investigation was initiated immediately. The teacher has been removed from the classroom and the investigation is ongoing. Pursuant to Florida Statute an open investigation and materials related to it are exempt from public record and cannot be discussed until the investigation is complete.
Original post continues here:
The stupidity that leads one to embrace the ideas of white supremacy also tends to lead to other stupid things, like getting caught bragging in a podcast about covertly teaching kids racism at a public school.
Such is the fate of 25–year–old Dayanna Volitich, a soon–to–be-former social studies teacher at Crystal River Middle School in Florida. Volitich was called out by HuffPost this weekend for allegedly hosting a white nationalist podcast called Unapologetic, in which she describes having covertly injected her beliefs into the classroom and then lying about it to school administrators when parents complained.
HuffPost outed Volitich, who the news site said hosted Unapologetic and maintained a social media presence under the pseudonym “Tiana Dalichov,” after a blog called Angry White Men wrote about the Feb. 26 podcast. In that podcast, “Dalichov” interviewed the host of a far–right, anti–Semitic media outlet called Red Ice.
“Dalichov” and Lana Lokteff attacked feminism and then discussed the educational system in the U.S., calling for white supremacists to “infiltrate public schools to push their racist agenda and root out ‘Marxists,’” according to Angry White Men. Lotkeff urged fellow “alt–right” minions to be “more covert and just start taking over those places.”
The Angry White Men blog noted:
Much to Lokteff’s delight, Dalichov [Volitich] revealed that she is, in fact, a teacher with white nationalist beliefs — as well as a fan of Red Ice. “It’s something that, as a teacher, it’s a tough place to be,” Dalichov complained, adding that teachers like her are “incredibly lucky” to find like-minded co-workers.
“So do you have much freedom as a teacher or is someone always over your back, making sure that you’re staying on point, and teaching certain curriculum?” Lokteff asked. Disturbingly, Dalichov revealed that she plays by the rules when her supervisors are watching, but lets the children know that it’s all an act — a “dog-and-pony show,” as she called it — and asks them to “play along.”
The two also criticized the idea that “a kid from Nigeria and a kid who came from Sweden are supposed to learn exactly the same” and have the “same IQ.” “Dalichov” acknowledged believing that some races are naturally more intelligent than others. (Listen to the entire podcast here and here.)
HuffPost tracked down Volitich’s employer, the Citrus County School District, on Friday. After that, “Dalichov” tweeted that she “might disappear for a while” and then deleted her fake Twitter account and the podcast.
As of Saturday afternoon, Volitich’s profile was still posted to Crystal River Middle School’s website.
In a feature story published Friday, The Guardian warned that the debunked “science” that certain races are inherently more intelligent than others, known as “race science” or “scientific racism,” is making a comeback among members of the so–called “alt–right,” a contemporary moniker for white supremacists.
“Race science isn’t going away any time soon. Its claims can only be countered by the slow, deliberate work of science and education. And they need to be – not only because of their potentially horrible human consequences, but because they are factually wrong,” The Guardian’s Gavin Evans wrote.