Below please find resources and information for exceptional children at charter schools. Hard copies of the handbooks below can be accessed on campus. Please communicate with office staff or email Martha Sanders, EC Director, at m.sanders@aspiretradehs.org.
Please click here for information on Project Child Find.
2. Parent’s Rights and Responsibilities in Special Education: NC Notice of Procedural Safeguards
This handbook is designed to support families with the understanding of the rights and responsibilities specific to the special education process. Acronyms and terms often used in special education and resources can be found in the appendices.
If, at any time, you suspect your student may have a disability and is in need of special education and/or related services, you may request an evaluation, in writing, to your student’s school principal, teacher, or Ms. Martha Sanders, Director of EC, m.sanders@aspiretradehs.org, (980) 399-7554.
The mission of the Exceptional Children Division is to ensure that students with disabilities develop intellectually, physically, emotionally, and vocationally through the provision of an appropriate individualized program in the least restrictive environment.
4. Multi-Tiered System of Support for Families
What is NC MTSS?
Family engagement within an MTSS is defined as the active and meaningful partnerships that educators build and maintain with students’ families for the purpose of supporting student learning. It embodies the idea that all parties are equally invested in the student’s educational experience and all parties bring knowledge and skills of equal value to the table to work together. This linked infographic is intended to support NC families in understanding what NC educators are referring to when they are talking about an MTSS.
What is “support”?
NC schools that are implementing an MTSS may talk about support for students. To further define that support, NC organizes these supports around the instruction, the curriculum, and the environment. This linked infographic is intended to promote understanding and conversations around how school teams are providing these supports to all, some, and a few students based on needs.
5. New to Aspire Trade High School
Welcome
If you are new to Aspire Trade High School and have questions about special education, please communicate with office staff or email Martha Sanders, EC Director, at m.sanders@aspiretradehs.org.
In order to make your student’s transition into Aspire Trade High School go smoothly, it is very important to provide your student’s new school copies of the following information during registration:
- Most recent psychoeducational report, eligibility, evaluation and/or reevaluation report;
- Current individualized education program (IEP); and
- Contact information for your student’s previous school and school district.
These items will support a successful transition between your student’s old and new school and will ensure that appropriate services and supports are made available.
What to Expect
For out of state students:
Once you have shared your student’s special education records, school staff will invite you to a meeting to discuss comparable services, or services similar to or the same as, provided on your student’s most recent IEP. During the meeting, school staff will also describe the initial eligibility process that occurs when students move from out of state and the timeline in which an initial North Carolina (NC) IEP will be developed.
For in state students but new to Aspire Trade High School:
School staff will begin implementing your student’s current NC on their first day of school. An invitation to review and revise your student’s IEP may be scheduled. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss your student’s transition to a new school and to determine if any adjustments to the services and supports currently being provided are needed.
6. Dispute Resolution
From time to time, disagreements between families and schools may occur regarding the development and implementation a student’s individualized education program (IEP). It is highly recommended that the following steps be considered in order to resolve differences quickly.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction-Exceptional Children-Parent Resources