Virginia Substitute Teacher Suspended for Lesson Supporting Russia’s Ukraine Invasion

A substitute teacher in Arlington, Virginia, has been suspended after telling students he supports Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “logic” to invade Ukraine.

John Stanton, 65, was subbing for an eighth-grade Spanish class at Swanson Middle School on Friday and used the first ten minutes of class time to speak about the Eastern Europe invasion, the Washington Post reports.

“The statement I think that got me was I said, ‘I personally support the logic of Putin,’ and what I meant by that is, he made a rational decision from his perception,” Stanton told the outlet. He also allegedly encouraged students to get news from Russian propaganda platforms. 

Following the lesson, a concerned parent emailed the Arlington School Board regarding Friday’s class. A copy of the email obtained by the Post alleges the substitute teacher “told students he supported Russia, asked whether anyone in the class ‘hated Russia,’ and complained about rising gas prices, presumably as an effect of the current crisis.” The email described the comments as “advocacy of political positions, and Russian propaganda.”

On Tuesday, the substitute teacher received a letter informing him of his suspension resulting from “an allegation of comments made to students during instructional hours regarding sensitive world events with Russia and Ukraine,” according to the Post. Stanton told the Post he has “no desire or plans” to seek reinstatement of his job, though the letter offered him that recourse.

Stanton sent the outlet his resume via email, which listed that he worked as a Sputnik News reporter in Washington, DC, between 2016-2018, and he admitted he still writes for Pravda. In 2017, the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency said Sputnik was part of Russia’s “state-run propaganda machine.” In 2018, PBS NewsHour published an article that stated Stanton was a wire reporter for Sputnik and that he provided insider information on the company to a third-party “client.” He was fired in April of 2018, the report states. 

Stanton told the Post that the “client” was “a U.S. government intelligence agency.” He neither identified which agency he claimed to be working with nor did he provide proof of his employment to the outlet. 

“I was extracting as much information as possible from their [Sputnik News] computer systems, taking pictures of the staff, collecting information,” said Stanton. 

He doubled down on his decision to engage with students in his lesson on Friday.

“If I reached one student — and there was one student that told the kids ‘Be quiet,’ because he wanted to learn,” Stanton told the Post. “If for one student that is the case then I would do it again.”