Florida Teacher Who Hosted Far-right Podcast Encouraging White Nationalists to Infiltrate Schools Resigns
A teacher in Florida who was hosting a white supremacist podcast which she claimed was “political satire” has resigned.
Dayanna Volitich, 25, who teaches social studies at Citrus County School District’s Crystal River Middle School, was removed from the classroom on March 2 after Huffington Post revealed that she expressed a series of anti-Semitic and racist views on her Unapologetic podcast while using an alias.
The district’s assistant superintendent Mike Mullen confirmed to CNN that Volitich has submitted her resignation but it will not be made final until it is accepted by the school’s board. Approval of the decision is due to be discussed at the next board meeting on April 10.
Using the pseudonym Tiana Dalichov, the teacher was found to have used her podcast to allegedly boast about being a teacher in Florida while expressing a string of far-right views.
She told listeners about how she brought her white nationalist views into the classroom. She also invited people linked to infamous far-right hate groups onto the show.
A guest who appeared on Unapologetic on February 26 was Lana Lokteff, wife of Henrik Palmgren. Both are known for presenting a series of far-right podcasts. Palmgren also owns Red Ice, a media outlet recently classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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During her appearance, Lokteff urged white supremacists to become teachers in order to influence children. “They don’t have to be vocal about their views but get in there,” she said.
“Be more covert and just start taking over those places, I mean that’s what the Left did. [It’s what] a lot of these cultural Marxists and Frankfurt Scholars did.”
Tiana Dalichov—a near anagram of Volitich’s real name—also expressed anti-Semitic views on social media. A Twitter account using Dalichov’s name was found to have retweeted white supremacists and neo-Nazis such as David Duke and Mike Enoch as well as suggesting Muslims need to be eradicated “from the face of the Earth.”
Dalichov’s Twitter account, which used a picture of Voltich as the profile picture, has been deleted.
In a statement sent via her attorney, Volitich confirmed she was the behind the Unapologetic podcast but that the views she expressed were satirical and an “exaggeration.”
"None of the statements released about my being a white nationalist or white supremacist have any truth to them, nor are my political beliefs injected into my teaching of social studies curriculum," she added.
The Citrus County School District has not yet responded to Newsweek’s request for comment on Volitich’s resignation.