WTF is it with Florida? These people are morons!

[mr blur]

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 the 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 that went much farther than he'd hoped.

"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' . Wizardry?" he asked.

<snip>

"Wizardry"?! Help us, Jebus!

[jberryhill]

1. Looking at other reports...

...it seems there was a list of reasons why he was let go. The "wizardry" thing is primarily based on the teacher's telling of the story. He may be engaging in some theatrics.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/06/pa-presto-teacher-out-of-a-job/

In a letter the district sent to Piculas, performing a magic trick at Rushe Middle is just one of the reasons the district gives for dumping him from the substitute-teacher list. The others are that Piculas did not follow the lesson plans, he allowed students on computers even though another teacher said not to and he told the fifth-period student peer that she was in charge.

Piculas said those other reasons are just window dressing. He said he finished the lesson plan, another teacher knew the students were on the computers and he never put the student peer in charge.

Piculas said he thinks his troubles all come down to the disappearing-toothpick trick and a student who may have interpreted the trick as wizardry.

The trick requires a toothpick and transparent tape. A sleight-of-hand maneuver causes the toothpick to disappear then reappear. At least, so it seems. In reality, the toothpick hides behind the performer's thumb, held in place by the tape.

"The whole thing lasted 45 seconds," Piculas said.

He said the students liked the trick. He showed them how to do it so they could perform it at home.

One student in the Rushe Middle class apparently took the trick the wrong way, Piculas said. He said he was told the student became so traumatized that the student's father complained.

Sinclair wrote Piculas a letter, dated 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.

[madinmaryland]

2. How can a student be traumatized by a magic trick making a

toothpick disappear?

:wtf:

[jberryhill]

4. Context is everything

"Hey, kid, settle down or this is what I'll do to you. <performs toothpick trick>"

There could be more to the story... or not. But if there was a list of problems cited in the letter, and this was the end of the list, it seems that he's trying to make something out of one item on a list. Overall, if the list looks like, "You're not doing what you are supposed to be doing, and on top of it you are putting on your own personal talent show" then the overall picture, and context of that item, would be different.

Substitute teachers are at-will employees anyway, so I don't see what the big deal is.

[Orrex]

5. That's a terrific and well-reasoned reading

Well done!


By the way, you totally rule the 9/11 Forum! I can only stand to read about five posts in there each week, but somehow you manage to stick with it.

:yourock:

[moggie]

3. ...

[Warpy]

6. I still think the sun and humidity fry brain cells down there

because everybody I ran into there seemed to have about a 1 second time lag between when I told them something and they'd react to it.

It was creepy.

[lizerdbits]

7. I will make careful observations later this month

I'm going to visit family right before the memorial day weekend.

[semillama]

9. I'll be down there next week

I'll be birding with a group of friends, so I don't know how much interaction with locals I'll have, apart from service industry personnel.

[immoderate]

8. Not all of us.

Come visit the Broward County Atheists meetup on a Tuesday night, or go to the Pampano branch meetup on a Wednesday. Good conversation, and the kind of folks you'd meet in A&A group. Come to think of it, it was Synnical who first told me about it, though she's never made it to a meetup. Most of the crazy stuff is about central Florida (like Alabama) or the panhandle (more like Georgia.)

South Florida, or more precisely south east Florida is more cosmopolitan. Half the people in my drum circle come from Brooklyn.

--IMM