Colbert Report comes to Pasco seeking wizard

Producers from Comedy Central's Colbert Report have spent the past two days in Pasco County asking residents, school district officials and yes, even yours truly whether the school district has wizards in its midst and, if so, whether they're good or bad wizards.

Their interest stems from a story gone viral on the Internet about Jim Piculas, a substitute teacher who claims he was fired for "wizardry." His tale, first reported by the local ABC news outlet, bounced across the world and, not surprisingly, into the hands of the folks at Comedy Central.

They have interviewed families in the park, who have said they didn't know much about the story. They've talked to School Board chairwoman Kathryn Starkey, who says she tried to emphasize that Piculas' firing had everything to do with his classroom management failures and nothing to do with a 30-second magic trick. And they've even got Piculas on the hook for some face time.

Superintendent Heather Fiorentino and her staff turned down the chance to appear on the satire show. But Starkey - a Colbert fan - said since the average Joe on the street would be talking, the district should give the "true story." Besides, she told the Gradebook, "It's fine when you can laugh at yourself."

She wouldn't go so far as to opine on Piculas' wizard-ness, though. The interviewer "tried to get me to say whether I thought he was a bad wizard or a good wizard. I said I didn't know. I never met the man."

Field producer Nicole Savini said it takes about 1-2 weeks to put together the 4-minute segment. She promised to let us know when it's ready to air.

Comments

[Rich]

Just saw the show, they never said why he was really fired. They kept saying "blah blah blah" over the school official.

[Logan]

I'm still not readily convinced there wasn't some kind of wizadry at work...

[Erik]

no matter where I go in the world...Pasco find me on the tv.

[Rodger Lemonde]

Florida school systems need all the wizards they can get. The government isn't doing much to help. Steven should be happy to help them recruit wizards. Of course they may not be happy about the poor pay.

[Eric62]

Amazing that Colbert could even find Piculas to talk to him. Practicing wizardry in front of muggles is a serious offense. Perhaps he's on work-release from Azkaban.

[wizard or not]

i haven't yet seen a definitive answer to the million dollar question: did they, or did they not, actually cite "wizardry" as one of the reasons for firing him?

if they did, i don't care if there were a million other valid and legitimate reasons; citing "wizardry" instantly makes you look like a stone-age mongoloid.

"YOU ARE FIRED FOR STEALING, INSUBORDITATION, UNEXCUSED ABSENCES, AND ABUSING THE KIDS. OH AND ALSO YOU ARE A WIZARD."

[Chris]

This will be great, they have a great way of making people think they are on there side, when they are really showing how much of an idiot they are.

[Millertime]

Oh, I can't wait to see this one.