A principal and assistant superindentent told us they determined the judges of our daughter’s school spelling bee last month made the correct decision when they concluded she misspelled the word “poseur.”
Our daughter was one of two remaining contestants when she spelled the word “poser.” (Last school year, she included the word “poser” in the dialogue of a humorous, 1980s-themed play she wrote and performed in.) The judges determined she misspelled the word. Before the other contestant received his word, I appealed the judges’ decision. The judges opened a Merriam-Webster dictionary, saying they sought “poseur,” which includes a French origin.
For the second year in a row, our daughter finished as the spelling bee’s runner-up.
One of the school’s teachers later sent us a Facebook message, calling the judges’ decision “bogus.”
We asked the school principal and school district to review the decision on the following grounds:
- We argued the words “poser” and “poseur” include overlapping definitions.
- We argued the spelling bee announcer pronounced the word “poser” not “poseur.” We visited merriam-webster.com, searched both words, clicked the website’s audio button and listened to the pronunciations. In our opinion, the words sound differently.
- We raised questions about two of the three judges. I contacted the Scripps National Spelling Bee about the experience and qualifications that schools generally seek when selecting spelling bee judges. The representative told me the Scripps National Spelling Bee does not require specific qualifications but, generally speaking, judges include people such as teachers, professors and members of the news media. The school principal told us one of the three judges in last month’s spelling bee is an office aide and the other is a duty aide.
We searched Google and read news media stories about judges’ mistakes during spelling bees.
In an email denying our appeal, the school principal explained the words “poser” and “poseur” include different definitions.
The school principal explained that, according to a Scripps document, “… judges will not entertain appeals on the following grounds: The announcer allegedly mispronounced a word.” The principal also wrote, “I have personally found multiple ways for poseur to be pronounced through searching online sources, but in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary, the pronunciation of poser and poseur are identical.” In a phone call, the assistant superintendent told us the words do not sound differently.
When I initially asked the school principal during a phone call about the qualifications of the office aide and duty aide for the spelling bee, he told me it is sometimes difficult to find volunteers to be spelling bee judges. In his follow-up email, the principal said he believes the office aide and duty aide have “proper qualifications to serve in this capacity and I am grateful for their willingness to be part of the spelling bee.” The assistant superintendent told me he did not have a lengthy discussion about the judges’ qualifications. I asked again about the office aide and duty aide’s credentials. He said he believes they have degrees but he did not know if the degrees are in education.
I told the assistant superintendent that the principal’s email, in my opinion, did not indicate if there is anything the school and district could learn from this situation. I asked the assistant superintendent if the school and district could do anything better in future spelling bees. He reiterated the district did not see anything to indicate the office aide and duty aide should not have been judges. However, he said part of the future conversation could be whether the school and district can recruit other people as spelling bee judges to ensure “they have all the right people in all the right places.”
For us, our lesson remains clear: Fight for what you believe in.
