This is teacher appreciation week, Tuesday is National Teacher Day. I sometimes wonder if education administrators mis-hear the announcement, and think it is teacher depreciation week.
In Land-o-Lakes, Florida, in Pasco County, a substitute teacher was fired for doing a magic trick. The district, apparently lacking in critical reasoning skills and reality-based life, accused the guy of “wizardry.”
Once the firing became public and the district started to look really, really stupid, the district came up with other reasons for the firing which they announced to reporters, but not to the teacher. Janie Porter at Tampa Bay’s Channel 10 News has the story.
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.
Wizardry? Shouldn’t the guy be made teacher of the year for a demonstration of wizardry?
Wizardry may be unappreciated in the teacher ranks, but the rank of the administrators sure do a good job with lizardry.
Tip of the old scrub brush to P. Z. Myers, on the lookout for Florida zaniness as always.
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
what? they didn’t burn him at the stake…florida has come a long way ;)
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Somewhere, Don Herbert is rolling over in his grave.
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Another teacher who is fired for another reason.
“When Wendy Gonaver was offered a job teaching American studies at Cal State Fullerton this academic year, she was pleased to be headed back to the classroom to talk about one of her favorite themes: protecting constitutional freedoms.
But the day before class was scheduled to begin, her appointment as a lecturer abruptly ended over just the kind of issue that might have figured in her course. She lost the job because she did not sign a loyalty oath swearing to “defend” the U.S. and California constitutions “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
The loyalty oath was added to the state Constitution by voters in 1952 to root out communists in public jobs. Now, 16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, its main effect is to weed out religious believers, particularly Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oath2-2008may02,0,6280956.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
“As a Quaker from Pennsylvania and a lifelong pacifist, Gonaver objected to the California oath as an infringement of her rights of free speech and religious freedom. She offered to sign the pledge if she could attach a brief statement expressing her views, a practice allowed by other state institutions. But Cal State Fullerton rejected her statement and insisted that she sign the oath if she wanted the job.”
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[…] Yes, the other issues are valid. But “wizardry”???? What ignorant *ssholes. Hat tip to Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. […]
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They should bring in Ricky Jay to show how it is done.
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Then what, I wonder, is the supposed act of transmuting wafers and wine into flesh and blood if not wizardry?
You know what? I do little magic tricks when I’m teaching. It’s wonderful for getting the attention of students, especially those who you’ve never taught before. It’s also great for teaching critical thinking skills, trying to work out how a trick is done.
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