New Hanover County Schools Administration Building
6410 Carolina Beach Road
Wilmington, NC  28412

Phone (910) 254-4445        Fax (910) 254-4446

The mission of New Hanover County Schools, in collaboration with our parents and the community, is to strive to provide children an excellent education in a safe and positive learning environment where they are prepared with the critical skills to reach their full potential for a world yet to be imagined.

"Reach, Equip, Achieve"

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 support 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
• Modified school lunch programs
• 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 services
• School-to-adult life transition services targeting employment and independent living through school and community-based instruction
• School-wide positive behavior interventions and support
• 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 Services
• 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 services for students with disabilities are designed to comply with:

• 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 and toddler 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.