In Florida, Wizardry is Bad

It seems whenever Florida makes the national news it’s never for something positive. It’s usually either our inability to run an election, tourists being robbed/kiddnapped, or teachers having inappropriate relationships with students. Last night one of our local news affiliates ran a story which was talked about on all the local radio stations today and tonight showed up on Digg of all places. It’ll probably be on the national news broadcasts tomorrow and on Oprah the day after. It is, quite frankly, the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long while.

Evidently a substitute teacher in Land ‘O Lakes (yeah, the place where the butter comes from) did a magic trick in front of a middle school class. The “30 second” trick involved a toothpick disappearing and reappearing. No context was given but the trick sounds harmless enough. More than likely it was being used to gather the classes attention, it’s middle school after all. After the fact, the teacher got called into the office of the “supervisor of substitute teachers” and was told he was being accused of wizardry. According to the teacher, he thinks this will prevent him from acquiring jobs in the future.

Ok, but wizardry? Wizardry!? Are they serious? I didn’t know that Florida was the new seventeenth century Virginia where the act of witchcraft can have you burned at the stake. I’m assuming that because he was a substitute, and basically just a daily contract employee, he can’t file a wrongful termination suit since there isn’t anything to be terminated from. Maybe he can do something through the Teacher’s Union, but even then probably not. He’ll forever be known as the teacher fired for wizardry, and there something seriously messed up with that.