Magic trick costs teacher job
The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student.Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher’s job is on the line, but this time it’s because of a magic trick.
The charge from the school district — Wizardry!
Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears.
But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land ‘O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.
“I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, ‘Jim, we have a huge issue, you can’t take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'” he said.
When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell and went much farther than he’d hoped.
“I said, ‘Well Pat, can you explain this to me?’ ‘You’ve been accused of wizardry,’ [he said]. Wizardry?” he asked.
“What gave them the idea I was a wizard?”
The muggles are on to me!!! Voldemort will be pissed!
Is there something in Floriduh water that encourages idiocy?
And in the other corner…
“Sinclair wrote Piculas a letter, date Jan. 28, to say the district would “no longer be using your services.” The letter mentioned magic tricks at the end of the list of other classroom offenses he is accused of committing.
The word “wizardry” does not appear in the letter.”
http://tinyurl.com/3nb4hm
If you were unhappy about being fired, what would you do?
RBG
Seems like the inmates are running the asylum or we’re not getting the whole story. That said, I can’t help but wonder if some of the people who buy the biblical tale of ‘talking snakes’ (to quote Bill Maher) also allege “wizardry” when confronted with simple slight of hand. I’m more than a little convinced America is becoming a nation of ignorant buffoons. The past two presidential elections plus McCain’s and Hillary’s recent ability to baffle the electorate with blatant bullshit is very disconcerting for the state of democracy.
was he using his dick for any of this?
My own opinion is that he got his students interested in what they were doing. The school can’t have that. Hence, he goes.
If I recall correctly, isn’t there a “What’s the Matter With Kansas?” banner?
I think Florida needs a “What the F$%! is Wrong with Florida?” one…
#2
Its not what’s in the water, its who’s in the churches. You have a large number of religious people who are on average lower income than many parts of the US, in part come from less educated backgrounds, now pushing this kind of crap.
This sounds fishy. I can’t really determine what is the truth. It might have actually been the case that this guy was a slacker and he concocted the “wizardry” nonsense to make the school look bad. That seems far more plausible than a teacher trying to get another teacher fired over wizardry and given the news outlets penchant for blowing things way out of proportion I wonder if that is the case.
That said, if the wizardry accusation is true…wow. You know, if they accused me of wizardry, the logical retort would be “Then wouldn’t you think it a bad idea to fire a wizard and wouldn’t you think a wizard could get a better gig than substitute teacher?”
Witch! Burn the Witch!
Some times I wonder why I even get up in the morning. Living on Earth today is like drinking STUPID from a fire hose.
#10
You expect more from a state where the adults can’t figure out how to use punch ballots?
hey look they have a website for pasco schools:
http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/
7227 Land O’ Lakes Boulevard
Land O’ Lakes, FL 34638
(813) 794-2000
(352) 524-2000
(727) 774-2000
Heather Fiorentino
Superintendent
As a Christan, even I have to say .. WTF?
It official, Florida is the most fucked up state in the union.
Not that I disagree that Florida isn’t inhabited and worse, run by a bunch of crackpots, the next paragraph of the story really should have been included in the original post.
“Tampa Bay’s 10 talked to the assistant superintendent with the Pasco County School District who said it wasn’t just the wizardry and that Picular had other performance issues, including “not following lesson plans” and allowing students to play on unapproved computers.”
Was that tooth pick from his trousers? You know the pocket with the zipper.
My guess is that #9 is correct.
The ‘Wizardry’ is just their way of getting rid of him for some other reason.
Oddly, up in NY for example, you could make sexual advances towards a child as a teacher and then get paid for years on end to be in the ‘rubber room’ where you’re paid to do nothing.
Perhaps ‘Wizardry’ is their way of getting around the Teachers Union’s idiotic contract.
If you say a teacher made sexual advances towards a kid there is probably some clause that stops them from firing you until you have photos of the incident or something on that order. Wizardry, on the other hand, is likely not covered in their contract.
#15 They said “…it wasn’t just the wizardry…”, which means that wizardry was at the heart of the problem. The other things were ancillary causes.
#13 – As a Christan, even I have to say .. WTF?
Most Christians… Muslims… Jews… Wiccans… atheists… Harry Potter Fan Club Members… Saturn Family members…. all have to say… WTF?!?!?
It isn’t being a believer… It’s being a zealot, something I am sure few regulars here are.
Holy Spaghetti Monster.
One minute it is a disappearing toothpick, next the evil eye and then he will convert all the female teachers into witches.
And we can not burn the witches because of local zoning rules or some such and also global warming.
Just thank the caring school management for their so proper conduct. After all there is 0 tolerance (intelligence) in schools.
The kids must (and will) learn by example.
(However, if they do start burning witches again – would it be possible to send in nominations?)
Finally, a government entity recognizes that my super magic powers are real.
Well, It’s about time!
Clearly the Pasco school district should throw this teacher in a lake and see if he floats.
I smell a LAWSUIT percolating !!! A useful tack might be to get the School Board defense team to PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF WIZARDRY !!! Then this teacher can collect a BIG PAYOUT !!!
#2 (Moss) said: Is there something in Floriduh water that encourages idiocy?
Yeah, fundamentalist Christians getting baptized.
No offense to other Christians, most I know are very middle of the road, non-preachy, cool people. But Fundies. ZOMG!
harry potter is the manifesto for the global warming hoax
#24: How much you wanna bet he would lose because they added on the other charges just so they could fall back on those?
I suspect this was the toothpick that broke the camel’s back.
Some families believe in the devil and dark arts, even to the extent that Harry Potter is banned or discouraged from the household. I can imagine one of these children unexpectedly faced with a new teacher teaching them magic… just like in Harry Potter. The parents calm a freaked-out student and then complain to the school. The principal then has the duty to tell their oft curriculi-deviating substitute about a parent “who is claiming you are teaching wizardry.”
RBG
#15, Gig,
As usual, you didn’t read the entire story. If you had of, you would have read this little comment,
“I still have no idea what my discipline involves because I’ve never received anything from the school district actually saying what it entails,” said Piculas.
As opposed to the all-knowing Gawd not reading posts other than his own, especially #3 RBG.
RBG
#28;
So are you justifying this or otherwise excusing this behavior?