By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Parent-teacher conferences for Great Bend schools begin on Feb. 17. The district plans to have a new tool in place to help communications between teachers and non-English speaking parents. USD 428 Director of Teaching and Learning JoAnn Blevins introduced Propio Language Services to the board of education Monday night.
"We are starting to outgrow our in-house capabilities for interpretation, especially around parent-teacher conferences when we have lots of families who are in need of interpretation," Blevins said.
Propio can provide translation services by phone or video for up to 350 languages. The service is available 24/7/365 and costs $0.70 a minute to use. There are no subscription or minimum fees, so if the district does not use the service there will be no charge.
Board President Jacquie Disque, a healthcare worker by trade, called Propio one of her favorite services to use in her profession because of its ease. Board Member Chad Burroughs was less enthusiastic.
"We've had the translation be incorrect a handful of times we've used it," he said. "In my line of work that can be life and death so I have mixed emotions about this. Is it convenient? Yes. But some of the translation isn't correct, so I'm leery."
Blevins said Propio does strive to provide the best service possible and takes negative feedback seriously.
"There is a rating process for the interpreter after the interaction is over," she said. "They investigate any rating under a three to figure out why that is and make corrections."
The board voted 5-1 in favor of using the service with Burroughs the lone vote against.