Ahh the glory of public education!

By ANJANETTE FLOWERS / NewsChannel 36

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- You would think the word "education" is pretty easy to spell. Well, think again.

It was a costly and embarrassing mistake made by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Career and Technical Education Department when they decided to hand out some freebies to teachers.

"That's pretty bad if they approved that and it's not even spelled correctly," said Louise Wood, a parent.

The misspelled version of "education" was printed on 1,800 beverage coasters, the kind that you use in your car.

Last week, they gave about 500 of them to teachers during a teacher appreciation meeting. It wasn't until after that meeting that school officials realized the mistake.

The "a" in "education" was missing -- spelled "eduction."

We tried to get Superintendent Peter Gorman's take on it.

"No idea what you're talking about," Gorman said. "Haven't seen it, haven't heard of it until just this second."

A CMS spokesperson told us the company that printed the coasters, Ad Concepts, didn't catch the mistake and neither did CMS when they approved the proof.

That's hard to believe for some parents.

"Nobody picked it up? Nobody was able to proofread this?" asked parent Talia Goldman. "It doesn't make me happy."

CMS did not foot the bill for this mistake. CTE paid for it using donations. It cost them $1,500 for the 1,800 coasters.

"You know what? I always say everybody makes mistakes, but it's what you do with that mistake that counts," said Goldman.

CMS is trying to work out some kind of deal with the vendor.