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School district opts out of spelling bee
By: JENNIFER KABBANY - Staff Writer | ∞
Tyler Ferre spells out a word in the spelling bee at Abbey Reinke Elementary School on Wednesday.
STEVE THORNTON Staff Photographer
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TEMECULA ---- To bee or not to bee; that is the question. The answer, at least as far as the Temecula Valley Unified School District is concerned, is not to bee.
Its officials decided against organizing a districtwide spelling bee this year. Because of that, the district will not have a student representative at the countywide contest this March, the winner of which goes on to compete in the national championships at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
This is the first time the Temecula school system has decided against offering a districtwide bee, typically conducted each January. All other Southwest County schools are having their annual contests.
In spite of the district's decision, which has prompted criticism from parents, some teachers have rolled up their sleeves and moved forward with schoolwide bees.
Regardless of whether the decision is popular, officials said they are standing by their choice.
"As a public school district, our focus has to be on the California content standards," Dianne Vaez, the district's director of secondary instruction, said of the detailed list of subjects and information state officials expect students to be taught at each grade level.
Standards dictate that writing and reading comprehension are far more important than spelling, she said.
For several consecutive years, the Temecula school system has bested all other districts in the county on statewide standardized test scores. Vaez said district educators take student learning very seriously and their priorities are in order.
"We want to see our students spend more time reading and writing, and less time memorizing how to spell words," Vaez said. "We have brilliant students, and it's not that we don't think spelling is important. But in the grand scheme of things, it's at the bottom of the list."
Another factor contributing to the decision was the amount of time it takes to organize and conduct the bees, which is time taken away from classroom learning, Vaez said.
The bee starts with classroom contests, with winners proceeding to schoolwide competitions. The winner of those bees move on to the districtwide contest. The process takes effort and energy by the people organizing it and includes lots of busy work, she said.
In addition, the county bee's sponsor had temporarily backed out, meaning the winner of that regional competition would not have been sent to the national one, Vaez said.
In December, the county bee's sponsor agreed to sign on again. Yet, school district officials were notified of that change only recently, said Tracey Rivas, the Riverside County Office of Education official organizing the county bee.
With the sponsor on board, if the winner of the county bee is in middle school, he or she will go on to the national competition, Rivas said.
In the wake of the district decision, some schools did not schedule a bee or cancelled their schoolwide bee, while a few campuses still conducted one or are planning to.
"We are doing it for the kids," said Christine Kelly, the Abby Reinke Elementary School teacher who organized the schoolwide bee that was held Wednesday. "It's just to recognize them. It's exciting. They take great pride in the fact they are great spellers."
Helen Hunt Jackson Elementary School is also scheduled to conduct a schoolwide bee.
"The kids still have a right to be able to do it, and I wasn't going to take that from them," said teacher and bee organizer Melia Pommier. "It does take a lot of time to get it ready, and the kids spend hours studying these words. But that shows their dedication."
Regionally, spelling bees took center stage in 2005 after a Poway student won the national competition.
Spelling bees have also become in vogue nationally after the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" was released last year. It's the story of an impoverished south Los Angeles girl who made it to the national spelling bee. Each year, ESPN also televises the national bee.
Some Temecula parents said they think the spelling bee should have been preserved.
"I think they should offer them for the kids," said Donna Leikness, whose son, Adam, won Temecula's districtwide bee last year and then represented the district at the county competition as a seventh-grader.
"He is a competitor, and likes winning," she said of her son. "It's a shame to drop it to the wayside."
Adam, 13, said this week that he enjoyed his spelling bee experience last year.
"I learned a whole bunch of definitions and how to spell stuff," he said. "It was kind of fun, and even sort of invigorating."
Longtime Temecula PTA volunteer and parent Barbara Burkett said that although spelling may not be at the top of the state's content standards list, the bees are an academic tradition and can be exciting for many students.
She said district officials offered the same line of reasoning when they quit participating in the National History Day competition a few years ago.
After more than 20 years of involvement, the district stopped competing in the National History Day program because, they said, it did not fit within the state's social science and English standards.
That competition provides students with an opportunity to write historical papers and produce a variety of documentaries, three-dimensional displays, Web sites and other reports. Some Temecula students have gone on to compete without the district's support, teachers have said.
"I understand teachers have a full plate and the requirements from the state don't make things any easier," Burkett said, "but sometimes there is such an emphasis on state testing that things that are a tradition fall by the wayside."
The district's middle school principals collectively made the decision to cancel the bee at the start of this school year, Vaez said. It was something they had discussed last school year, too, she said.
"We used far too many resources and too much time on the spelling bee, and spelling is not one of our major standards," she said.
So far, Vaez said the district office has not fielded any complaints with parents upset over the decision. She said she would apologize and explain the district's position to any who might call.
Contact staff writer Jennifer Kabbany at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2625, or jkabbany@californian.com.
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Communications Director wrote on Jan 12, 2007 8:52 AM:Sew, eye gess we wil bee lowering the barr on yet an other standard!
Working Gal wrote on Jan 12, 2007 9:28 AM:"Spelling is not one of our major standards". Hummmmm? So what are they teaching in school these days? No wonder kids come out of school and can't get jobs......they can't fill out the applications! "Today's youth are tomorrow's leaders." Now there's a scary thought.
Concerned wrote on Jan 12, 2007 9:50 AM:Another program lost. Maybe if we didn't have to coddle ESL students we might have time to provide children of American (tax paying) citizens a well rounded education. California's educational system used to be the best in the country. Congratulations folks!
Low Standards wrote on Jan 12, 2007 10:00 AM:Our school district is lowering its standards by not included activities that engage students in learning. It is funny that other school districts in California that made National History Day a required part of their curriculum have had test scores rise, while our students are getting cheated out of good spelling and historical understanding and their test scores are not improving. Why the Temecula Valley Unified School District cannot integrate langague, reading and math standards with the teaching of history is a mystery. I hope that they come to their senses and realize that they are not preparing students to be better citizens. Reinstate National History Day and Spelling Bee otherwise we are disgracing the quality of education that undergirds this great nation.
Oh Brother ... wrote on Jan 12, 2007 10:10 AM:Spelling not important ???? Oh thats right & those 3 school parties we get a year with one cupcake at each one make our kids overweight too... And this school district thinks they know what is best for us once again .... hmmmm. And to Working Gal ... You are so Right!!
Former TVUSD Candidate wrote on Jan 12, 2007 12:25 PM:I’m not sure if Ms Vaez meant to say this, “Standards dictate that writing and reading comprehension are far more important than spelling”. Am I missing something here? I think you have to learn to spell the words first to write a sentence. Dora likes spelling!
Jeremy wrote on Jan 12, 2007 12:26 PM:It's horribly tragic that the Temecula School District cannot think for itself on matters like this. So because things don't fit into some bureaucratic state standards, we should be taking these wonderful educational opportunities away from kids? What exactly is the goal of the school district here? You would think that the goal should be to give kids as many ways to learn and succeed as possible, and yet here the Temecula district is limiting those opportunities, where eventually they will be whittled down to nothing.
Good Speller wrote on Jan 12, 2007 12:30 PM:I think it's too bad when current movies like "akeela and the bee" are so popular and inspirational to the kids, that we choose this time to quit.
Randy wrote on Jan 12, 2007 12:51 PM:Apparently the trustees have never seen a movie or read a book coorelating spelling bees with improvments in school performance through motivating students!
Interest Creating Statement wrote on Jan 12, 2007 2:06 PM:This scenario is precisely a concern as to why WE NEED CHARTER SCHOOLS IN OUR AREA. The parents and the students of some school districts are mandated by (labor) union representatives to adhere to their analysis paralysis agendas by killing motivating programs.
Celebrate Academic Competitions wrote on Jan 12, 2007 5:09 PM:Does Vaez even understand the art of spelling? Excellent spellers who compete at the highest levels of competition do not just MEMORIZE words. Those students become well-versed linguistic scholars, who learn to think as decoders and historians. The spelling bee is yet another way for young people to train and discipline their minds. As a teacher, I appreciate and understand the constrictive nature of state standards guiding my lessons; however, time for enrichment programs such as this still exists if time is well-used and funds allocated. The elimination of this particular program seems more like a financial (and dare I say perhaps lazy) response to an unclear impetus. Just how many people were involved in this decision? Kudos to my colleagues who are going forward with the bee. And just one more thing: spelling is a FUNDAMENTAL skill. To say it is not a priority is ridiculous. I guarantee that most university admissions committees will discard college applications with errors in spelling. We ought to spend time glorifying academic competitions instead of squelching them. Please, please: parents, if you disagree with the district's decision, make your voices heard. A parent's voice has quite a bit of weight...
Best For Kids wrote on Jan 12, 2007 5:36 PM:Drilling on spelling words is not the same as developing critical thinking skills and is certainly not working at the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. I did not get a sense from this article that TVUSD believes spelling to be of no importance, rather, they appear to want spelling to take its rightful place in the Language Arts curriculum, not center stage. Furthermore, I have seem the stress, competitiveness and disappointment in the faces of many spelling bee participants - these competitions are not as motivating and uplifting as your readers would like to believe. When will people stop automatically thinking the worst of those in leadership positions?
Response to "Best for Kids" wrote on Jan 12, 2007 5:53 PM:Are you serious? Please do not make an "it's hurting their self-esteem" argument. As a multi-year participant in the spelling bee, I can attest to both the rush of triumphant joy when one spells correctly, and to the soft disappointment when one spells incorrectly. Those emotions---and finding that your parents, friends, and teachers still love you even when you lose---are fundamental lessons in life. It is healthy for kids to feel the yearning of competition---perhaps if we are lucky, they become the ambitious scholars and leaders of the future. I can only speak from personal experience, but I found my years in the bee to be both motivating and uplifting. Even 14 years after my last bee, I still nuture a passion for learning and studying and training my mind. Did I like misspelling words on stage? No. But to walk off the stage with my head held high, to retreat into the smiles of my parents, to have a realistic sense of how I ranked with other spellers, and to possess dignity in defeat---THAT is uplifting. We should never teach our children to fear that.
Bad Choice TVUSD wrote on Jan 12, 2007 9:51 PM:Going back many years I loved the spelling bee's because I knew I would shine. I was bad at math & science but spelling came natural not drilled into me. The bee's were optional just as they are now. For some kids they need this to shine for others to see. My concern is if we don't put more importance on spelling how will this generation teach the next generation. How can this generation be successful at history, sentence writing, future college & job applications? What does the lack of focus on spelling do to their future. One more thing how would I be able to help my own children with their homework if spelling was not a focus back then??
Roby wrote on Jan 13, 2007 11:14 AM:Lots of opinions here but did any of you catch the blurb on the "workshop" that's happening today? The TVUSD school board & admin. are drafting the strategic plan. They will again meet on Feb. 3rd. Then over the course of the next six months they will work on finalizing this plan. Input from teachers and parents is needed. Community Forums are supposed to be scheduled to allow participation. I hope to see all of you at these public workshops so that you can voice your concerns and offer your advice. Parents, teachers and taxpayers, here's your chance, please don't ignore it.
Good Decision wrote on Jan 15, 2007 10:07 AM:The comments I have read are as predictable as they are uninformed. California has rigorous spelling standards in all of the elementary grades, and a spelling component is required in the reading adoption (Houghton Mifflin or Open Court). The words selected are based upon phonetic principles, word families and frequency of use in writing. The latter is the basis for the spelling program used in Poway, which seems to be the standard for most Temecula parents. Have you ever heard the words used in spelling bees after the first couple of rounds? You would be hard pressed to use them in speaking or writing, let alone seeing them in a reading selection. Good spellers win spelling bees. Students who need the practice need to work on the spelling standards and not have to worry about how fast they will be eliminated from a needless competition.
Response to Good Decision wrote on Jan 15, 2007 6:28 PM:Nothing you have said is a counterargument to the virtues of the spelling bee. In fact, you are correct: California has a spelling standard in every grade, per the English Language Arts standards. The STAR test, which this district administers every year, also asks spelling questions of elementary and middle schoolers in its multiple choice questions. If you want more information for yourself, please research this online. A few days ago, I submitted a post to this forum with the links provided, but I think the inclusion of the URL prohibited the post from being posted. By the way, I was a spelling bee competitor myself (and in this district). I routinely use spelling bee words in my vocabulary, and I often encounter such words in the books I choose to read. I also went to university in California with several other top students who have been gloriously decorated with gold and silver in a variety of academic competitions. Taking away academic competitions in this district is a disservice (on many levels) to our students. Rigorous universities seek out students who have somehow distinguished themselves in academic competitions. Being ranked #1 at a high school is not the be-all, end-all. Challenging universities want to see that a student has the chops to be #1 at something in the county (or even better, nationally) where the competition is much more numerous, elite and therefore statistically significant. Do we want to be known as a district that does not push our students to this kind of excellence?
Spelling Dad wrote on Jan 22, 2007 4:44 PM:The National Spelling Bee draws the same audience as an NCAA tournament game. It is so popular, ABC took over the latter rounds of the bee and moved it to prime time. How many activities are there that make learning this exciting? Precious few. To lose spelling bees in favor of other curricula is failing to see the forest for the trees. Preparing for spelling bees is so much more than rote memorization. Learning about the words is a history lesson, a culture lesson, and a language lesson. It fuses that learning in an irresistible package, with a tangible goal. Bees are really the utmost in lessons of competition, and so much like life itself. Miss one word and you're out. Till next year. But that harshness is exactly what makes kids prepare so hard and competing so much fun. Please reinstate the spelling bee now.
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