The pandemic-driven supply chain crisis has impacted businesses and companies worldwide. USD 383 has felt the consequences of the supply issues as of late, with a recent paper shortage across the district. 

“We got towards the end of our onhand current paper supply last month,” Principal Michael Dorst said. “We were notified that there was a bid being put out and we were waiting for that bid process to wrap up … the series of that happening and the amount of paper that was being used and the spacing between the Board meetings, all happened at once. So there was a moment where we just had to watch our paper consumption.”

The district spends roughly $40,000 on paper per semester. This sum of money can only be applied through a district-required bidding process, which pertains to any purchases over $ 10,000. These bids usually take about a couple weeks to process before an order can be verified. 

“It takes a minimum of 10 days for a bid to be placed,” USD 383 purchasing accountant Jaime Gregory said. “We usually keep it out for a couple of weeks, and then it has to go to the [school] board so we went to the board as soon as we could. Once the bid opened [for paper purchase], it was out for about two and a half weeks. We opened the bid, went to the next available board [meeting], It was approved, then we did the purchase order the next day.”

Gregory placed the order for paper around the middle of January. At the time, the paper vendor had a plentiful supply of their product, guaranteeing a 5-7 day turnaround for delivery. However, due to supply chain issues, the company wasn’t able to provide the district paper in that timeframe and was forced to delay their shipment by an estimated 2-2.5 weeks.

“It was a supply issue,” Gregory said. “Because they couldn’t get the paper that they thought they had, they did not have enough in stock so they couldn’t get it from the [paper] mill.”

As the paper supply at MHS and the district dwindled, Gregory briefly reverted to local vendors to temporarily supply schools with paper. The lack of paper at MHS specifically was even more of a problem, with the school responsible for the majority of paper use in the district. 

“We were completely out [of paper] but I was able to order some from a local vendor and have a couple pallets brought in,” Gregory said. “The high school typically orders a pallet at a time. So that’s 40 cases of paper (200,000 sheets). That pretty much wipes us out pretty quickly. So we just told them you don’t need a whole pallet. Let’s not order a whole pallet just to kind of make sure that the other schools have some too.”

Nevertheless, last Thursday, almost a month and a half after the order was officially put in, USD 383’s bulk order of paper finally came in. Because of the delay, the paper corporation sent the district a higher quality of paper than previously ordered. The order should last MHS through the end of the school year.