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It is the Mission of New
Hanover County Schools Special Education and Related Services to
provide a high Quality education that prepares all students to be
productive and contributing citizens of a global society.
Students with disabilities in New Hanover County Schools
are provided special education and related services with this mission in mind.
The services are based on the individual educational need for specially
designed instruction when standard instruction with accommodation is not
appropriate. The services emphasize
maximum participation in typical settings for students three through twenty-one
years of age.
Students receive services in typical school settings from highly qualified
professionals who receive state of the art professional development. Students
receive services in varying amounts of time depending on need.
Amounts of service range from consultation and minimal instructional
intervention focused on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study to full-time
specially designed instruction with related services.
All service decisions are specified in an Individualized Education
Program (IEP) jointly developed by parents and school teams.
Determination of the need for special education also is determined
through a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation process, using a problem
solving approach.
The following are
services currently delivered and received by students attending New Hanover
County Schools:
·
Accessible
student transportation
·
Adapted
Physical Education
· Assistive
technology services (The
Assistive Technology department was honored with recognition from the
Consortium for Schools Networking for being pioneers in their organization and
delivery of services.)
·
Behavior
consultation services
·
Braille
and orientation and mobility services
·
Braided approaches to services for students with Autism
drawing on a variety of best practices through the intensive
academic, social and communication instruction (Recognized statewide for
outstanding services in a community with the third highest incidence rate for
students with autism in NC public schools)
·
Educational
service coordination
· Evaluation
and intervention assistance services, relying on a response-to-intervention
approach (NC state pilot project)
·
Hearing impaired itinerant instruction services
·
Home
and hospital instruction services
·
Interagency
collaboration on services planning and delivery
·
Intensive
academic and behavioral instruction
·
Liaison
services that assist each school to develop appropriate educational
programs
· Multiple
forms of manual communication services for students with hearing impairments
·
School-based
mental
health services
(One of three NC school systems recognized for leadership)
·
Modified
school lunch programs
·
Multifaceted
preschool services system emphasizing typical environments
·
Nursing
services for students with medically fragile conditions
·
Occupational
course of study
·
Physical
and occupational therapy services
·
School
psychology and diagnostician services
· School-to-adult
life transition services targeting employment and independent living
through school and community-based instruction
· School-wide
positive behavior support (NC state demonstration site)
· Scientific research-based reading and mathematics
instruction (NC state demonstration site)
· Specially designed academics emphasizing daily
living and functional academics through the
Extensions of the NC Standard Course of Study
·
Speech-language
pathology and audiology services
· Transition
Program for Young Adults (Recognized by the Self-Advocacy Synthesis Project
at the
University
of
North Carolina
at
Charlotte
as an exemplar program for its promotion of self-advocacy skills within an
exemplar transition program model.)
·
Visually
impaired itinerant instruction services
Parents
of students with disabilities are offered a full array of procedural
safeguards to insure development of quality services for their
children. For more information about these safeguards, please request
the New Hanover County Schools Special Education and Related Services
Parents’ Rights Handbook. Mediation
and consensus are the preferred approaches to a positive resolution of
differences.
·
New
Hanover County Schools Board Policy Series 7000 and 8000,
·
North
Carolina General Statues 115C-106 through 148,
· North
Carolina Department of Public Instruction Procedures Section .1500,
·
29
United States Code 794,
·
20
United States Code 1401 et seq.,
·
34
Code of Federal Regulations Part 104, Subpart D and
·
34
Code of Federal Regulations Part 300 and Part 301.
How
do I access services if I suspect my child has a disability?
Access
to services depends on whether a student has a disability and whether
that disability requires specially designed instruction.
Insuring student success in the standard educational program
through instructional modifications is preferable.
If your child is not experiencing success in his current school
program, ask your principal about an Intervention Plan for Student
Success.
I
am moving to New Hanover County and my child received special
education in another system. How
do I access services?
Present
your child’s records including IEP and evaluation information to the
school that the students in your new neighborhood attend.
The school will make every effort to implement your child’s
previous program at that school.
This will be determined through a meeting with you.
Sometimes, the services students need are complex and require
time to set up. Please
give the school as much time as possible to plan the most appropriate
program for your child.
I believe the services needed by my child could be better
delivered at a school other than the school my neighborhood attends.
How do I transfer schools?
Every effort
will be made to make IEP services available to your child at the
school your neighborhood attends.
This will not always be possible for a variety of reasons.
If New Hanover County Schools concurs with your belief, it will
propose another school site to you.
Families also have a variety of school assignment options under
various programs such as open enrollment, magnet/year round schools,
and reassignment due to hardship.
Please contact the Assistant Superintendent for Student Support
at (910) 254-4206 for more information on these options.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
For
information about infant, toddler, and adult disability services, call
the Children’s Developmental Services Agency (CDSA) at (910)
251-5817.
For more information about New Hanover County Schools
Special Education and Related Services, call a school or the Special
Education and Related Services Office at (910) 254-4445.
For additional information about services in New
Hanover County, call the Family Support Network of Southeastern North
Carolina at (910) 792-6133.
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