RENO, Nevada (AP) -- The state spelling bee is growing by two contestants to make up for a judging error that had one girl's parents ready to spell "lawsuit."
Sara Beckman was disqualified from the Washoe County spelling bee Tuesday despite correctly spelling "discernible." Officials say the word was misspelled on the judges' lists.
The Reno eighth-grader's parents said they waited until the end of the round to protest because they didn't want to interrupt the bee. But the rules say a protest must be lodged immediately and Sara ended up third.
Her parents hired an attorney. He threatened to sue the local sponsors if something wasn't worked out, and said he would seek an injunction to stop the state spelling bee next month in Las Vegas as well.
After meetings and phone calls, a one-time deal was reached Thursday: The top three eighth-graders from Washoe County will go to Las Vegas.
"The decision is in the best interest of the students involved and it ensures that threatened legal action by a local attorney would not block the state contest, which would have harmed students from across the state," the district said in a statement.
It won't happen again. In the future, all students, parents and teachers will sign a statement spelling out that they understand the rules.
Also, unless you are a fantastic speller and you have a pocket dictionary with you, how are you going to know the judge was wrong? I don't think they allow any dictionaries in the room of the spelling bee, so how would you know without a doubt?
As for the judges and the organizers - someone forgot to proof their work! That aggravates me.
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