2008-2009 District Facts

The Mosinee School district includes 248 square miles and nine different municipalities.  It borders on the school districts of Wausau, Marathon, Edgar, Stratford, Marshfield, Stevens Point, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, and D.C. Everest.  All the district's schools are located in the city of Mosinee, which includes about 33 percent of the district's equalized property value.  The combination of the district's geographic size and the location of the schools mean that 70 percent of the student population rides the bus to school, some for an hour each way.

Over 90 percent of Mosinee High School graduates plan to attend post secondary educational institutions, with about 55 percent of the graduates attending four year colleges or universities and another 35 percent attending vocational/technical colleges.  Of the district's 2,102 students in 2007-08, 289 (or 14 percent) were placed in special education programs.  The district's federal Title I allocation is based on a census data for low income residents.  About 21 percent of the district's student population qualifies for free or reduced school lunch.

The economic prospects for the area served by the school district are excellent.  The Central Wisconsin Business Park includes several enterprises.  Wausau Paper Corporation remains a highly successful enterprise.  Central Wisconsin Airport, located across from the business park, provides regular passenger and freight service for the region.    New retail development is occurring, especially along Highway 153 east of the Wisconsin River.  Already, more than 2500 jobs exist within the Mosinee city limits.   People are moving into the district.  The Lake DuBay region including the Town of Knowlton, the northern part of the district including the Town of Mosinee and the Town of Kronenwetter, and the City of Mosinee are experiencing significant new residential construction.  The City of Mosinee has, within the past several years, made major improvements in its infrastructure. 

Governance

Mosinee is a common school district with a ten member Board of Education (9 elected citizens with voting power and one high school student representative, with no voting power).  An Annual Meeting of district electors is held on the last Wednesday in August. The Annual Meeting conducts an advisory vote on the district’s proposed budget and tax levy, which must be set by the Board of Education no later than October of each year.

The Mosinee Board of Education consists of five members who represent specific areas of the district with the remaining four members elected at large. Please note, however, that all voters are eligible to vote on all candidates, no matter where they reside.  The Board meets the third Tuesday of each month. The current Board of Education members are:

The Board employs more than 200 people to carry out its mission, making the school system the third largest employer in the district.  The Wausau Paper Corporation has more employees.  The pupil teacher ratio in the district is approximately 14 to 1, excluding administrative support staff.  Of the teaching staff, approximately 71 percent hold a master's degree or above.  There are eleven administrators in the district.  A Superintendent, Director of Instructional Programs, Business Manager, and Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds coordinate district level activities.  There are principals at the Elementary, Middle, and High Schools and associate principals at the Middle and High Schools.  There is also a Coordinator of School/Community Activities, who schedules, organizes, and manages the use of the Community Center.  A Director of Food Services manages the hot lunch program.

Strategic Plan

Updates were made each year.  The current new vision and mission have been created which can be found on our district website www.mosineeschools.org and clicking on the About Us and then the Vision and Mission links.  The key assumption of the plan is that to successfully educate children, the schools and the community must share a common vision of where education in Mosinee should go and do a better job of getting there. The strategic plan has been used since 1993 by the Board, administration, and staff to delineate specific improvements in the district, including decisions to approve a major technology initiative, changes in schedules, adding a middle school associate principal, making the case for the successful school referendum, adding elementary school sections to decrease class size, adding technology programs, providing free swimming to the public, and generally increasing community access to the schools. All district employees are expected to perform their professional duties in ways that lead to the implementation of the strategic plan.

Programs

The Mosinee Schools offer comprehensive programs in the basic skills, the arts, pre-vocational programs, and special education.  Remedial programs are provided, as are programs for gifted and talented students.  Each school in the district has a licensed guidance counselor.  Art, music, and physical education are, at all grades, provided by a licensed teacher. In addition to traditional classroom programs, the district also features multiage classrooms in both the elementary and middle schools.  In grades 6-8, all students participate in a Teacher/Advisor program designed to meet the needs of middle school students.  Middle school students also participate in an Outdoor Education program.  There are computer laboratories in each school for general instruction, as well as two computer labs for Business Education in the high school.  A state-of-the-art applied science and technology lab is included in the Community Center. Internet access is available in all buildings.  In 2008-2009, the ratio of students to computers used for instruction is 2.5 to 1. An electronic mail system is used to enhance communication for all employees in the district. 

Mosinee has a distance learning lab located in the community center (Room 409) with a DS3 connection which allows us to send and receive transmissions with universities, tech schools and other educational institutions. In addition to providing our students with outstanding distance learning opportunities, the lab is an excellent staff training site for school employees, regional businesses, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations.  The district currently offers some high school foreign language classes over its distance learning lab.

The district participates in a program with Central Wisconsin Airport that emphasizes aeronautics and space concepts in grades K-12, and in the Wausau Area School-to-Work Transition Committee.  An innovative partnership with Wausau Homes has allowed some of our students to build a modular home on site in our home construction class.  The district makes excellent use of regional resources, such as the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the University of Wisconsin-Marathon Center, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, and the Wausau Performing Arts Foundation for academic and fine arts activities.  In conjunction with Northcentral Technical College, Mosinee students can earn advanced credits toward completion of NTC programs in a number of subject areas.  High school students can also obtain college credits toward university degrees through programs offered at area universities or via satellite in the distance education center.  Mosinee students have participated in financial service apprenticeships and in manufacturing apprenticeships. The district operates an alternative education program for at-risk students who would otherwise not be able to graduate with their high school class.

In the area of pupil services, the district employs one full-time psychologist/special education coordinator, one full-time psychologist, and one part-time psychologist, 24 special education teachers, four counselors, two part-time nurses, a part-time occupational therapist, and a part-time physical therapist.  In academic support areas, the district employs a technology coordinator, a part-time network engineer, 1 technology support technician, a reading specialist, two library/media specialists, a gifted and talented coordinator and teacher, remedial program teachers, and part-time coordinators for programs in health and school-to-work transition programs.  There are building leadership teams (BLT's) at each building.

Other Noteworthy Information

Mosinee has a record of excellence in teaching.  Several teachers have received Kohl Foundation fellowships and many others have been recognized for exceptional achievement.   Mosinee graduates, according to university grade reports and employer reactions, do well in college, at technical school, and on the job.  Mosinee staff members have been selected to present programs at regional, state, and national conferences.

The community supports education.  More than 70 businesses participate in the School-to-Work program by providing sites for school-supervised work experience, expertise for programs such as Junior Achievement, or time for coming to school to speak and meet with students.  The Mosinee Parent Teacher Organization has been an active partner in education for the past twenty two years, donating time and money to improve opportunities for children.  During the past twenty two years, the PTO has donated over $270,000 to be used by the schools.  The Mosinee Educational Foundation provides support to education by funding innovative proposals from district staff.  Parent support groups for fine arts and athletic programs are active.  The Mosinee Paper Corporation has a long history of supporting the Mosinee schools with donations, scholarships, and assistance in conservation projects.  Community groups and families annually donate more than $85,000 in scholarships for graduating seniors.   The Creskes, a local family, donated materials and labor worth more than $500,000 to help complete work on the Community Center addition for the school.  Local foundations have provided the district with significant help in completing worthwhile projects.  The district and the city cooperate to provide recreational and other programs to area taxpayers, including year-round use of the district swimming pool. 

In April 2007, the Mosinee community passed a $9.6 million referendum that added fifteen new classrooms, a new IMC and gymnasium and other improvements to our elementary school.  In addition, $500,000 of the referendum was earmarked for upgrades to the middle school.  The money was designated for floors, doors, ceilings, roofs, windows, heating units, etc.  The elementary building addition and improvements to the middle school were completed in 2008.

School events are well attended and, as of September 2008, admissions to all school co-curricular events are as follows:

Volunteers are active in schools.  In the past, Mosinee Elementary School won one of ten Family Friendly School awards sponsored by the Department of Public Instruction and Hardee's.  Hundreds of people volunteer to help in the schools each year.  Local service clubs provide support to school programs.

The district publishes a monthly newsletter, the Mosinee LINK, to inform residents of district and school news.  A staff editorial board, coordinated by the Superintendent, prepares articles for the LINK, which is then designed and published by the district's publications coordinator and the High School Graphic Arts program.  The Link has  consistently won awards given by the Wisconsin School Public Relations Association. The Mosinee Times, the community's weekly newspaper, covers school events.  The Wausau media also covers activities and events.

The Future

The quality of the Mosinee School District's educational program depends on cooperation among the Board of Education, administrators, teachers, support staff, and community members. As the community grows and changes, the ability of the district to provide an excellent educational program to students and the community will depend on how well that cooperation can be improved.

Mosinee School District | 591 West Hwy 153 | Mosinee, WI 54455 | 715.693.2530 | 715.693.7272 Fax
Copyright © 2008 Mosinee School District