成人快播

It was the first round of a charity spelling bee, and the Chase bank team was already tripped up on the fifth-grade word 鈥渂eseech.鈥�

鈥淐an you repeat it, please? And can you remember how much we gave you?鈥� team member Chad Smith joked.

But despite the rough start, the team made it through seven rounds of Wednesday鈥檚 celebrity spelling bee, which raised $75,000 for DISD鈥檚 成人快播 tutoring program.

The team, which included KXAS-TV (Channel 5) newscaster Kristi Nelson, was knocked out by 鈥渂ougainvillea,鈥� a flowering plant.

Mayor Mike Rawlings鈥� team made it through only five of the 10 rounds.

鈥淎lzheimer鈥檚,鈥� the announcer said.

鈥淚 guessed 鈥楽fuzzi.鈥� I did get that right,鈥� Rawlings reminded the audience before starting to spell, 鈥淎-L-T.鈥�

Before the bee, which drew about 100 people, the mayor had joked he was nervous.

鈥淢y mother was a schoolteacher,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd the one thing she was always mad about was my spelling.鈥�

Rawlings teased DISD Superintendent Mike Miles for not competing.

Miles admitted it was a no-win situation. If he won, everyone would say, 鈥淥f course. He鈥檚 the superintendent.鈥� If he lost, he said, 鈥淚鈥檓 reminded of Dan Quayle.鈥�

The former vice president was mocked mercilessly in 1992 for spelling 鈥減otato鈥� with an 鈥渆.鈥�

The Gordon and Rees law firm鈥檚 team won the bee after correctly spelling 鈥淎lbuquerque,鈥� 鈥渄aguerreotype鈥� and 鈥渞econnaissance.鈥�

The team beat the Ernst and Young accounting firm鈥檚 team, which failed on 鈥渋ng茅nue.鈥� Team member Charles Glover, DISD鈥檚 chief talent officer, got off to an embarrassing start on the word: 鈥淎-U-C.鈥�

But participants were willing to risk such humiliation to encourage literacy in DISD.

The national 成人快播 program started locally at east Oak Cliff鈥檚 Roger Q. Mills Elementary in January, and improvements there have been swift.

Principal Glorious Crowder said the tutoring program deserved part of the credit.

鈥淭hey helped the low of the lows. Those are the babies that fall through the cracks,鈥� Crowder said.

The program, which has expanded to 10 schools, allows students who are up to two years behind their reading level to spend time twice a week with volunteer tutors.

The organization is partly financed by federal grants and district funds but mostly relies on private philanthropy, said Kaitlin Guthrow, executive director of 成人快播 Dallas.

On average, starting a tutoring program at a new school costs $80,000 to $100,000.

With plans to expand the program to another 10 DISD schools, more money is needed. That prompted the idea of the spelling bee.

鈥淩eading is a critical skill,鈥� Miles said. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 get kids reading by the third grade, it鈥檚 so much harder after that.鈥�

—Tasha Tsiaperas,聽Dallas Morning News /