Mosinee parents can monitor students’ progress online

By: Charles Menchaca
Wausau Daily Herald

December 4, 2008

The Mosinee School District has joined other local schools in providing a Web-based program that allows parents to monitor their children’s grades and progress.

The program, called Family Access, became available to parents in late October. Anyone with a child enrolled in grades 4 through 12 can view attendance records, grades, assignments and more.

Last year, the Wausau and D.C. Everest school districts launched their own online parent programs. Merrill Area Public Schools also uses the Family Access program.

Mosinee held off using the program earlier because it switched its internal student management program last year, said Ron Mueller, Mosinee Middle School principal.

A few parents piloted the program at the end of the 2007-08 academic year. They and other families so far have found the program helpful in keeping up-to-date with classroom happenings.

“It’s so easy,” parent Shelly Kraft said. “It’s just right here at your fingertips.”

Kraft, 38, said she usually visits the site once a day for updates on her daughters, Brooke, 10, and Jordyn, 13. Kraft uses a login and password to enter the site to keep children’s information secure.

The most helpful part of the program, Kraft said, is the grade book, which contains a display of all class grades and a direct link to the teacher’s e-mail address.

The site saves parents time and eliminates the need to ask about each one of their children’s assignments, said Kraft, who works as a secretary for the district’s business office.

Although the program gives parents access to plenty of information, it should not be a substitute for face-to-face contact at the school, Mueller said.

The district will continue to encourage parents to attend parent-teacher conferences and still will send progress reports through the mail. Families who do not have Internet access can go to their child’s school or the public library to access the program, Mueller said.

Such access has come a long way from his days as a teacher without a phone in his classroom, Mueller said.

“One of the things that schools really strive to do is maintain communication with parents,” he said.