Newton North Junior Vanessa Battista won a Honda Civic the other day but she can’t keep it because some of the kids who were supposed to participate in the contest were taking AP exams at the time.
Principal Jennifer Price originally told the Newtonite: “I think it is great that Vanessa won. She is an excellent representation of what this school is all about and very deserving of the car.” But apparently Price was also involved in the decision to redo the contest.
Why do I think there must be more to this story?
The article says that some kids who were invited to participate had to miss the event (and therefore the chance to win) because they were taking AP exams. Sounds like someone screwed up the scheduling big-time. Seems unfair to the student who won, but also unfair to the kids who lost their chance to win because they were doing something academically important – don’t want to teach kids they’re better off skipping AP exams.
Does she lose the scholarship too??
So, someone screwed up the scheduling, then someone screwed up by running the contest and the one who gets penalized is the “winner”?
In sports, we often see “missed calls” that could have altered, or did alter, the game results. We don’t change the final result or replay the game.
Here’s what we really need to know: what was the pool of keys that the kids who were there chose from? If there was one key for every finalist, whether or not they appeared, then Ms. Battista won fair-and-square. If the number of keys were limited to the number of kids who showed up, then her odds were improved by the fact that some kids didn’t show up.
If this question wasn’t answered as part of the decision-making, then there is some ‘splaining to do down on Walnut St.
The Newtonite story quotes Keys to Success coordinator Michelle Roselli saying “she will be given compensation, because she did win the first time…This is the best thing to do, so that everyone gets a fair and equal chance.”
Not clear from the article what the compensation is.
But clearly, something seems to be missing here.
It wasn’t clear, but the way I read the article made it sound like you had to be there to have a chance to win, in which case all the kids taking AP exams lost their chances and were SOL. I’m glad she will still be given some compensation – how disappointing this must be for her!