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.
Okay, how exactly is this so traumatic to kids? What he was doing was trying to make the learning experience entertaining. Several studies* have shown that when the student enjoys learning, they learn and retain more.
"I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' [he said]. Wizardry?" he asked.
Yea, you gotta keep them kids safe from learning, don't you? [/sarcasm]
"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 a substitute teacher, the Pasco County School District considers Piculas to be an "at will employee." That means the district doesn't need to have cause for not bringing him back at all.
In other words, they're firing him just because he was trying to get kids to actually learn something.
Stupidity knows no bounds.
Aren't most of you glad you weren't educated in Florida?
* A reference book for this would be Dr. Harold Mosak's book Ha Ha and Aha
Quamp's discount manga/anime fan fiction
The Texas Conventions a Collection of artwork I've collected over various conventions.
