Catholic school teacher fired after ‘alt-right’ white supremacist ties get exposed
A teacher at a Catholic school in Maryland was fired for being part of the alt-right.
Gregory Conte, a substitute teacher and field hockey coach at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington, had been with the school since August 2014 but had been able to hide his alt-right affiliation by using a different identity online.
“Prior to his firing, he was successfully using an alternate identity in his work with his atrocious group,” a letter sent home to parents from school president and CEO Kathleen Ryan Prebble explained, according to FOX 5. “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.”
Prebble also said that she would meet with students on Friday.
Conte’s secret alt-right life
Conte went by Gregory Ritter on Twitter, where he had posted several controversial remarks. At one point, he even stated that “Hitler did not commit any crimes.”
He is also allegedly affiliated with the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank in Alexandria, run by Nazi-saluting Richard B. Spencer.
“I don’t regret it,” Conte told local station FOX 5 when reached for comment. “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.”
“The school is just trying to protect its own position,” he added. “I get why they are doing that. They are doing it because they are put in an awkward position where they have employed somebody with whom they had no problem and whose views did not at all adversely affect their school’s operations.”
School officials said that they had learned about Conte’s alt-right activities in October but refused to comment any further when pressed about why they waited until January to fire him.
Conte appears unbothered as he gloated about new supporters in the wake of his firing going public, tweeting:
https://twitter.com/Real_Greg_Conte/status/949443222736179205
