A local district administrator tells the Woonsocket (Rhode Island) Call that the district has cancelled the annual spelling bee because of . . . the No Child Left Behind act. You overlooked that NCLB spelling bee ban, huh? So did we, but Woonsocket assistant superintendent Linda Newman told reporters that the spelling bee doesn't pass NCLB muster since "it's about one kid winning, several making it to the top and leaving all the others behind. That's contrary to No Child Left Behind." Give Ms. Newman points for plodding literal-mindedness. As you know, NCLB has been blamed for the demise of social studies, for cheating teachers, and even for hastening the Rapture. But when it goes after the spelling bee, that's just too far!
"School district cancels spelling bee," by Ronald R. Blais, Woonsocket Call, January 27, 2005