Scoring error, not gender issue, blamed in masonry contest controversy

[oberliner]

Tim Lawrence, executive director of SkillsUSA, said the scoring problem came after one of the bricklayer professionals brought in by the Ohio chapter to judge the competition punched in an incorrect number.

“This was never a gender issue,” Lawrence said. “Any discrimination would never be tolerated by me or by the organization.”

The national contest is now under way with more than 2,300 female competitors, or 38 percent, in attendance, five of which are part of the masonry competition, SkillsUSA said.

While it was originally reported that Clifford was the first girl to win the competition, organizers said that there was a female Masonry gold medalist in Ohio in 2014

The state-level contest that Clifford competed in concluded on a Friday. Final scores didn’t reach schools until the following Tuesday, and Lawrence said that by the next day, two schools had filed grievances based on the large margin — 72 points — by which Clifford had won the gold medal.

That led to a re-evaluation of scores, resulting in the original third-place finisher being told he actually took first place and would be competing at the national level.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/06/23/scoring-error-not-gender-issue-blamed-in-masonry-contest.html

[MADem]

1. In a contest where accuracy matters, it's "OK" for the adults in the room to make sloppy mistakes?

smDh....

[oberliner]

2. Yes, it's pretty sad

You'd think they could've been a little more careful and checked for errors before giving out the awards.

[MADem]

6. Absolutely. And that's not all they could do.

You'd think they'd tell the kid who didn't really win how sorry they were, that they screwed up.

That his prize is rescinded, through no fault of his, mind you.

But that he's not gonna get something he does not deserve, and again, if he wants to blame anyone for that, blame them.

Then you'd think they'd make that girl who won 'whole' and give her what is due to her.

That is the only fair solution.

[Press Virginia]

7. How do you make the person who didn't win "whole"?

a mistake was made. She didn't actually win

[MADem]

8. The girl whose score qualified her for a place in the nationals should be given the place.

The boy whose score did not qualify him for a place should be told to go home.

[Press Virginia]

9. The boy's score was incorrectly entered. Had the roles been reversed

we wouldn't expect the boy to benefit from this mistake.

She didnt actually win.

[MADem]

14. I've been given the wrong impression, I fear, then!

I was under the impression (mistaken, apparently?) that the girl got the highest score but a mis-calculation gave her spot to a young lad.

If that's not the case, well, here's my take: the person -- male or female -- who actually WON should get the prize and the opportunity for further competition. The person who did not win -- male or female -- should receive a sincere apology for the bone-headed mistake by the adults in charge, AND an apology if the notification process was clumsily handled.

[oberliner]

13. I think you have it backwards

The girl was awarded first place and was told she was going to nationals.

Then they realized the scoring error showing that the girl had not actually won but that the boy had the highest score, so he was told he could go to nationals.

The problem was that they had not communicated this information to the girl right away, and so she found out, apparently, from Facebook.

[MADem]

15. See post 14 for my POV on this. The kid who actually won should get the prize and bennies.

The kid who was told they were a winner, but actually was not, should get an apology for the errors made.

[PoliticAverse]

3. Is it too much to ask that in such a story specific details of what the exact claimed error involved

was be included?

What the heck does "re-evaluation of scores" mean?

[MousePlayingDaffodil]

5. I'd seen an earlier story . . .

. . . that indicated that the the point gaps between top finishers were typically in the 3-5 point range. So, having something finish in first place by 72 points should have suggested right off the bat that some spurious data entry had taken place.

Pretty inexcusable, really.

[Press Virginia]

10. The score was entered incorrectly in the master spreadsheet

The fact that the number is 72 suggests a transposition error

[pinboy3niner]

11. Earlier reports said one or more scores were entered more than once on the spreadsheet. nt

[Press Virginia]

12. I'm working off Mike Rowe's explanation

Ignoring a clerical error rewards a person who didn't win

[sarisataka]

4. If it was

Such an unusually large margin, why didn't the judges check their figures immediately?

Could we get a list of the judges, I want to make sure to not hire them for any work I need done. I'm not too sure about the quality of work they would do.