Maryland substitute teacher fired after 'alt-right' views discovered by students
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gregory Conte was fired from his job as a substitute teacher in Maryland after students discovered his "alt-right" views. (FOX5DC)
A substitute teacher and field hockey coach at an all-girls Catholic school in Maryland was fired after his "alt-right" views were discovered by students.
Gregory Conte was fired this week from the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington after students discovered his personal Twitter profile in which he made remarks such as “Hitler did not commit any crimes,” FOX 5 DC reported.
The Twitter account, in which Conte used the name Gregory Ritter, said he was the director of operations at the National Policy Institute, which is run by high profile white supremacist Richard Spencer. Conte's Twitter account was still active when this article was published.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The students also found footage of Conte at the deadly August white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.
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This week, the school sent a letter to parents about Conte’s firing, saying despite his work with the “atrocious group,” there was no reason to believe he negatively influenced his students.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Prior to his firing, he was successfully using an alternate identity in his work with his atrocious group,” school CEO Kathleen Ryan Prebble said in the letter. “As for his potential impact on our girls, I conducted an investigation at the time of his firing and determined there was no reason to think that he negatively influenced any of our girls with his philosophy.”
FOX 5 DC reported the school learned of Conte’s “alt-right” views in October. The academy did not comment when questions as to why administrators waited until January to inform parents of Conte’s views.
In an interview with the new station, Conte said he did not blame the academy for firing him for his beliefs.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I don’t regret it," he said. "I obviously liked working at the school and I miss everybody, but I understand the political situation and I expected them to act as they did."
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One student told the station she was shocked by Conte’s “double life.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“I’m upset I didn’t know he had this double life but it’s also shocking because I wouldn’t think that in this century that there’s people still like that out there,” the unidentified student said.
Gregory Conte was fired from the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, Md. (Google Earth images)
Emma Jennings, another student, told WJLA Conte would read Russian books during class.
“During class, he would read Russian books or books about Putin and stuff like that,” Jennings said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Conte had been working as a substitute teacher since August 2014.