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Our Mission:
We exist to meet the needs of students with special needs. We serve identified students ages 2-21 and those who support them by offering a continuum of services to help students reach their full potential.
Our Core Beliefs: We believe all students can learn and education is a team effort.
King George County Schools Office of Special Services Vision Statement:
Our vision is for all students with disabilities to reach their highest potential of achievement, graduate high school, and become contributing members of our community. Students are equipped to become self-advocates, understanding their rights and their abilities, thus allowing them to make choices and decisions to improve their quality of life. Students are included in classrooms with non-disabled peers, receiving rigorous instruction from highly qualified teachers who make data-driven instructional decisions matching the needs of their students.
Educators will embrace an inclusive culture to close the achievement gap. Special educators strive for excellence by learning, modeling and collaborating on best curriculum, instructional and procedural practices to ensure student success and procedural compliance. All special education staff employs well-developed systems for implementing services and monitoring performance.
Parents are informed about special education procedures and resources and are actively involved in the education of his or her child. Positive partnerships exist among parents, staff and community organizations to support services for students with disabilities.
REQUIRED NOTICES:
CHILD FIND
King George County Public Schools engages in a public awareness campaign in to identify children or youth who may be suspected of having a developmental delay or a disability. This includes students enrolled in private schools, who are home-schooled, who are highly mobile, migrant, or homeless, or who will be incarcerated in a regional or local jail for more than ten days. Referrals for special education can be made by anyone concerned with a child's educational performance including a parent, teacher, community agency, or school official. Please contact your child's school for more information. If your child is preschool age or you home instruct your child please see the Child Find page for more information.
Notice for Destruction of Special Education and Discipline Records
The Library of Virginia Retention and Disposition General Schedule No. 21, which is mandated by the Code of Virginia, as part of the Virginia Public Records Act Virginia Code § 42.1-76 as amended requires that all special education and discipline records be retained for a period of five years (5) after a student has graduated and/or withdrawn from King George County Public Schools and then permanently destroyed. These records will no longer be available and will be destroyed as required by The Library of Virginia Retention and Disposition General Schedule No. 21. Parents or eligible students who wish to retain copies of discipline records, IEPs, Section 504 plans, and related assessments for determining eligibility under IDEA are encouraged to keep the copy(s) provided by the school each year and/or at the time of screening and/or discipline infraction.
Required Notice of Services for Students Identified as Hearing or Visually Impaired:
The Code of Virginia at § 22.1-217.01 was amended and requires school boards to annually post information on school division websites and to inform the parents of students who are identified as hearing or visually impaired of its availability as follows:
“The Department of Education shall annually prepare and distribute to local school boards packets of information describing the educational and other services available through the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, the Virginia Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, and the Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired to students who are identified as hearing impaired or visually impaired. Local school boards shall annually post this information on the school division's Web site and inform the parents of those students who are identified as hearing impaired or visually impaired of its availability. School boards shall ensure that packets of such information are available in an accessible format for review by parents who do not have Internet access.”
Below is a compilation of the required guidance documents and additional resources that are available at the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) website: Special Education-Sensory Disabilities.
Family's Guide to Special Education
Resources for Serving Students with Sensory Disabilities (Word)
For additional information, please contact:
Wanda Council, Education Specialist
Virginia Department of Education
(804) 371-4059
Revised 10/2019