Exceptional Children (EC) Staff

Referral/Evaluation/Placement

A student suspected of having an educational disability is referred to the MTSS at his/her school. Interventions are identified and implemented to assist the student’s academic, behavioral, and social/emotional needs.. Parents are notified when students are referred to the team. Parents are involved in the Tier 3 process. Please consult your school for more details about this process. Most of these students would also have a Personalized Educational Plan (PEP). If the student is not responding at an appropriate pace to the interventions implemented, the team would refer the student to the school based Exceptional Education team to consider the child for an evaluation. In addition to this process, parents can also request an evaluation. Upon completion of the evaluation, the team reconvenes with parents to determine eligibility. An Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed and implemented for students who meet eligibility criteria. The evaluation, eligibility and IEP development must occur within 90 days of initial referral. IEPs are reviewed at least annually, and eligibility is reviewed at least once every three years to determine if further evaluation is appropriate.

Service Delivery Models

The Chapel Hill Carrboro-City School District serves approximately 1350 students with disabilities in these categories: autism, serious emotional disability, deaf/blind, deafness, intellectual disability, hearing impaired, specific learning disability, multiple disabilities, other health impairment, orthopedic impairment, developmentally delayed, speech or language disability, traumatic brain injury, and visual impairment (including blindness). More than eighty percent of the school-age exceptional population is served in a regular class setting, the least restrictive environment (LRE) for them. Services are provided as outlined in each student's Individualized Education Program (IEP). In most cases, the student receives special education and related services in his home school. In a few instances though, the student is transported to a different school for the special education programming. Transportation is provided at no cost to the parent.