By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Spending nearly $5 million on a renovation project for the support services building was an easy decision for the USD 428 Great Bend Board of Education on Monday. After voting 7-0 to move forward on that project, the board split with a 5-2 approval for an online tutoring program that will cost the district a touch over $101,000.
According to Paper's website, the service was created to solve equity, cost, and scale for school districts. With Monday's vote, USD 428 will purchase a 12-month subscription to the service for all students grades 5-12. Paper features multi-lingual chat-based tutoring available 24/7, and also has an essay review component so students can upload written documents and receive immediate feedback.
"Out of our needs assessment that we administered to all of our buildings in December and January, what we found out is that our students who are recommended for homework help at the high school, and PEP at the middle school, for extra help with their work," said Assistant Superintendent Tricia Reiser. "We're just not having as much coverage by adults to help them out."
Paper tutors are licensed, fully-vetted teachers, and students can access those tutors from their school-issued Chromebooks, or any internet device. Teachers are notified of student logins so they, too, can track activity.
In March 2020, congress set aside nearly $13.2 billion for Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, and the district will use those ESSER dollars to pay for the service.
But not all board members agreed with purchasing Paper. Deanna Essmiller expressed concerns about the number of students that would actually use the service.
"Some of the virtual tutoring, they've struggled to get students to participate, particularly the students who need the most support, which we know," Essmiller said. "How are you going to get them to participate?"
Essmiller said one Florida school district had purchased 5,000 hours of tutoring through Paper, but after six months, students had used just 500 hours. She also said some districts have complained about a 3-minute wait time for responses to student questions. Reiser said she was assured responses would be delivered within 30 seconds.
Board Member Chad Burroughs asked when students would have time to log in if they are busy with other activities, and said there were still more questions than answers. "I'm not seeing when they're going to have time to log in," he said. "That's my biggest hangup, is getting kids to log in."
Reiser said the service could have many secondary benefits, from teachers leaning on the service for in-class tutoring and essay reading, to long-term substitutes using Paper to more effectively teach specific topics.
The board voted 5-2 to approve the 12-month contract, with Essmiller and Burroughs voting against.