Girl Spells Word Correctly; Still Dismissed From Spelling Bee

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Lauderhill Spelling Bee has come under controversy after an incident that brought back memories of Dan Quayle's problem spelling the word potato.

Robert McKenzie said that his daughter was dismissed from the Lauderhill MLK championship spelling bee earlier this week. The controversy centered on the word vacation.

Video posted to YouTube showed McKenzie's eight-year-old daughter, McKhalia being asked to spell the word vacation.

McKenzie posted the video to YouTube that showed his nine-year-old daughter being asked to spell the word.

McKhaila  responded by correctly spelling the word, but she was immediately told it was incorrect in the video.

"I actually thought I got it wrong cause I couldn't really remember what I said," recalled McKhaila.  "But then, when I went in the room and my dad came in and said I got the word right I started crying, bursting out tears"

McKenzie, who is a teacher at Castle Hill Elementary, immediately brought his video to the judges to protest.

"I'm stunned because I'm thinking to myself, if I can spell it, she can spell it," he said. "She's a better speller than me. So I immediately grabbed the camera from my wife. I go outside, look at the tape, I immediately go to the officials. I tell them look my daughter spelled it right. I played the tape for them and they agreed it is correct. But the judges don't want to listen to it, don't want to listen to me. They're shooing me away."

He wants the mayor to apologize. The mayor declined to comment; but city officials did respond saying they don't want to make a hasty decision.

They say it will take several days and several people to review the tape.

"I know how hard she worked for this opportunity and I would have rather her lose fairly than lose like this," said Robert McKenzie.