According to the Huffington Post, Dayanna Volitich, who teaches at Crystal River Middle School, uses the name "Tiana Dalichov" to host her podcast "Unapologetic," where she shares white nationalist ideas, including anti-semitic conspiracy theories and views that Muslims should be eradicated.
In a Sunday statement, the Citrus County School District revealed that Volitich will no longer be teaching at Crystal River while officials investigate the allegations made in the HuffPost report.
"The Human Resources department was notified and an investigation was initiated immediately," the district said in the statement. "The teacher has been removed from the classroom and the investigation is ongoing."
— Thomas Kennedy (@thomaskennedyfl) March 4, 2018
In a statement released Sunday by Volitich and obtained by WFLA, the teacher admitted to operating the podcast under a pseudonym but she denied that the accusations of having white nationalist views "have any truth to them" and she claims she never inserted her political beliefs into the classroom.
"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. While operating under the Russian pseudonym ‘Tiana Dalichov' on social media and the Unapologetic podcast, I employed political satire and exaggeration, mainly to the end of attracting listeners and followers and generating conversation about the content discussed between myself and my guests," she wrote.
— AJ+ (@ajplus) March 5, 2018
"The views ‘Tiana Dalichov' espouses do not pervade my professional career," she continued. "As an adult, my decisions are my own and my family has nothing whatsoever to do with my social media accounts or my podcast. From them, I humbly ask for forgiveness, as it was never my intention to cause them grief while engaging in a hobby on my personal time. All future questions about the current situation should be directed to my attorney. I cannot comment further, due to the ongoing school board investigation," she added.
Despite her claims, in Volitich's most recent episode on February 26, she admitted that she secretly spreads her white nationalist beliefs in her classroom without the knowledge of school administrators. Volitich also announced that when parents complained to school officials about how she propagates white nationalist views in the classroom, she denied it.
"She believed me and backed off," Volitich said of the school principal who previously confronted her.
Volitich also agreed with an unidentified guest's opinion that more white supremacists need to teach in public schools.
"They don't have to be vocal about their views, but get in there!" her guest said on the podcast. "Be more covert and just start taking over those places."
"Right," Volitich said. "I'm absolutely one of them."
Volitich has used the same pseudonym, Tiana Dalichov, on other social media platforms, including an alt-right website called angrywhitemen.org, where she suggested that Muslims be eradicated.
"The sects all follow the same holy text. That was my point. Until they reform the holy text to condemn the act of killing the infidel, or until we eradicate them [Muslims] from the face of the earth, the attacks will continue," she wrote.
"Tiana Dalichov" has also previously praised work by anti-semitic writer Kevin MacDonald on Twitter, writing that the "JQ [Jewish Question] is incredibly complex." "The JQ" refers to an anti-semitic conspiracy theory that Jewish people have control over media, banking and politics.
On Friday, HuffPost notified the Citrus Country School District about Volitich's white nationalism. On the same day, "Tiana Dalichov" tweeted that she might "disappear for awhile" and made her account private, but not before HuffPost took screenshots of some of the racist comments she had posted. Her Twitter profile is currently deleted. Volitich also deleted the website for her podcast.
