In what I consider to be a really bad decision, the Avon Grove school district has decided to let Meghan Reynolds participate in the middle school spelling bee. See the full story here.
What the story doesn't adequately explain (to me, anyway) is how Meghan is going to qualify for the school-wide bee. All the other participants qualify by winning the preliminary round in their respective classrooms. The only student in Meghan's "classroom" (her home) is Meghan--she is, perforce, the winner. She will be the only competitor at the school-wide level who has not had to prove herself in an earlier round. This is fair? She's essentially getting what would be considered a "bye" in the first round in an athletic tournament...but, of course, teams that get "byes" in athletic tournaments earn them by their standings.
To reiterate my earlier stance--parents who choose to home-school their kids have made a choice. I think they should have to live with all the consequences of that choice--including the fact that their child will not (or should not) be able to participate in extra-curricular activities in the public schools (and certainly not in semi-academic ones like a spelling bee). I just don't get the idea that these parents think the schools aren't a good place to educate their kids but a fine place for them to play.
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Hi! I know this is old news, but I was just checking this out recently. I don't know how accurate this information is, but I have read that the girl won the spelling bee last year. Apparently, this is the first year she is home-schooled. Also, from an Inquire report, there is a law that says home schooled must be allowed to participate. Inq. quoted the legislator who believed that the law did include spelling bees. The school initially denied the girl b/c the spelling bee was deemed by the school to be an inherent part of education, not an extracurricular activity.
Still forming an opinion on this, but it is important to proceed with all the facts possible.
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