Error keeping KC girl from spelling bee also made by other districts

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A national spelling bee director says a "couple of hundred" school districts made the same paperwork mistake that's keeping a Kansas City area girl from competing.

Paige Kimble, director of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, told The Kansas City Star that officials will not make an exception in the case of Morgan Brown.

North Platte R-1 School District officials followed outdated rules and registered the 12-year-old by district rather than by school. The application also failed to use the word "district" and was missed in a database search.

Since the word "district" didn't appear in the application, spelling bee officials say they didn't know to alert the district to the problem.

North Platte Superintendent Francis Moran says he hopes to work out the situation with bee organizers.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com