Richmond County Schools provide services to special needs students ages 3-21 in a continuum of educational environments: from resource class placements in the students' home schools to full day programs in specialized facilities. Students receive evaluations in all suspected areas of disability. The student's Individual Educational Plan (IEP) determines the type and level of required services. Students and parents are afforded all due process procedural safeguards as outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Richmond County Schools provide services through the following eligibility classifications:
- Autism
- Deaf/Blind
- Deaf/Hard of Hearing
- Emotional and Behavioral Disorder
- Intellectual Disabilities
- Mild Intellectual Disabilities
- Moderate Intellectual Disabilities
- Severe Intellectual Disabilities
- Profound Intellectual Disabilities
- Orthopedic Impairment
- Other Health Impairment
- Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorder
- Significant Developmental Delay
- Specific Learning Disability
- Speech - Language Impairment
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Visual Impairment
Parents with special needs children can facilitate the transition from their child's previous schools placement to enrollment in Richmond County Schools by insuring that they have a copy of their child's current Individual Educational Plan (IEP). This document contains the information that is essential for determining the most appropriate placement for the student here in Richmond County.
When a special needs student is enrolled, an Interim Placement is generally made to provide the student with the support he or she requires, based on the information in his/her IEP. The Interim Placement allows Richmond County to provide special education services to the student for 30 school days while obtaining any information necessary to establish the student's continued program eligibility under Georgia Department of Education Guidelines. Parents can facilitate this process by obtaining copies of their child's most current Eligibility Reports; Educational Evaluations; Psychological Evaluations; and as appropriate, Medical Records. Sharing this information along with the IEP, upon registration, facilitates the placement decision process. Once all eligibility information is collected an eligibility / IEP meeting is scheduled to determine appropriate programming for the student under Georgia guidelines.
The procedure for obtaining an Interim Placement for your child:
- Determine your zoned school
- Bring copies of your child's IEP and any supporting data to the school when you register your child
- The school will review this information and forward it to the Special Education Office to determine Interim Services. You will be asked to sign a Release of Confidential information at this time.
- Within 5 days of the receipt of the information at Special Education you will be contacted to attend an Interim IEP Meeting at either your child's zoned school or at the school where the most appropriate services are available.
At the Interim IEP Meeting the team will review the child's former services and discuss appropriate service models and modifications. Parents will be asked to sign permissions for interim placement and consent for evaluation. The school then forwards all the paperwork to Special Education for distribution to the appropriate service providers.
If you have any questions please contact Barbara Ball at the Richmond County Special Education Office at 706-731-8787.