OTIS-BISON — USD 403 Otis-Bison School District has firmly stepped into the twenty-first century, offering technology as a way to improve the number of available classes and opening a virtual school, Southwinds Academy. This small Kansas town is on the forefront of the future.
A virtual school has no teacher. The students work through the course on their own on the computer with a classroom monitor who is available to assist. The students can choose to read the text or, with the click of a mouse, hear it.
With the virtual school, students can take trigonometry, physics and creative writing. The Otis-Bison district does not offer these courses, but with the virtual school, students can take these classes.
“The beauty of the virtual school is that the student can work at their own pace with deadlines by the school and company (that provides the ent Milt Dougherty.
“It gives kids learning responsibility,” and is outcome based, said  Dougherty. “It’s not perfect but allows kids to have opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise. We’re in the business to educate kids.”
The student will not get credit until the class is completed. “It’s a little bit more like how the real world works,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty estimated that there are 40 kids enrolled  outside of the district in USD 403s virtual school. He said that some of the outside students are home schooled or in an out-of-the-home setting.
The school does receive funding from the state for each student from Kansas enrolled in the virtual school based upon the full-time equivalency. He said that the school board has been able to lower the mill levy assessed, which are the taxes charged to property owners, for several years.
Southwinds Academy is a public virtual school within the Otis-Bison school district and is considered a separate school from the Elementary School, Middle School and High School. It offers services to students throughout Kansas and truly anywhere in the world. The Academy is accredited. Students located in Kansas can enroll as no cost because their funding comes from the state. Students outside of Kansas can take courses on a tuition basis.
A certified teacher, Joy Yost, at Otis-Bison, monitors the virtual classes, as well as classes on Skype, which is where a live teacher teaches a class in real time. One Skyped class is the Spanish class.
Yost also teaches classes in the traditional manner.
The teacher enjoys the virtual school and keeps kids on task. “I love it,” she said. However, she added, it is not appropriate for some students, particularly those with motivational issues.
Senior Dalton Steinert, likes the virtual school. He said, “You learn more than you do with a real teacher. You can go at your own pace. You can go fast.”
Yost said it’s going to expand how high school and particularly colleges do business. She had one student that was weak in writing skills and the student knew she could increase those skills through the virtual school, working on those weaknesses.
With the virtual school, if the student doesn’t understand something, they can slow down and get additional help or if they quickly grasp a concept, they can move on to the next topic faster than they could in a traditional classroom. The students can choose to  have a recorded voice read the material to them.
But, Yost still likes having students face to face. As the virtual school monitor, she still does get that with the students. “Face to face is important in anything.”
Dougherty said virtual schools are growing fastest at the high school and college level.
“It allows us to expand the curriculum,” said Doughtery.