Isn't spelling one of the 3 Rs?

Two weeks ago, Madison called me at work. She was at school, the dismissal bell had just rung.
"Hi, mom?.... I forgot to tell you that the club is closed today."
Panic set in. This is the worst case scenario, the thing we have talked about, but never really planned for.
Madison goes to school outside her area boundary, which means there is no bus to and from home. I drive her to school, and after school, she rides the bus to the Boys and Girls club, where she stays for an hour and a half or so until her father or I pick her up.
Her dad and I each work 35 minutes away from Albany, in opposite directions. It's a pain to get to school if she is sick. Thankfully, she's the perfect- attendance- never-sick type of kid.
But, inevitably, it happened. We quickly decided that she would ride a bus to the high school closest to our house, and walk home from there. It's about a three quarter mile walk, and she has never done it alone. She did it, it went off without a hitch. The 30 minutes between that phone call and the "I'm home" email were pretty tense for me. During that time, I did a little investigating. Why weren't we aware that the club would be closed? I checked the calendar on their website, and the closure wasn't listed. So I called. They said that they had notified the schools the week prior, and they left it up to the schools to get the info out. The school told me that the news had been passed along in morning announcements. Madison told me that no one can ever hear morning announcements.
So I decided that I would get in the habit of checking the school's website at least once a week to read the announcements.
Today, I did exactly that, and I saw that the school spelling contest was scheduled for today, after school. Spelling is Madison's forte, she was her elementary school's champ. I called the school and left a message for her to call me. In the meantime, I sent out a few emails to my friends in Albany to see if anyone could pick her up from the contest, since she would miss the bus to the club. I arranged a ride for her, and she called to say that sure, she would enter the contest.
I wished we had more notice, I could have helped her study. I could have made sure she had a good breakfast. I assured myself she would do fine.
She called me when she got home... she won. It was literally no contest. She was the only kid who showed up. She didn't have to spell a thing. The school will contact us with the information for the district contest.
I don't understand how this can happen. How can a school have one kid show up for a spelling contest? Honestly, I don't understand why it's optional... but I suppose that's just me.