Student Support Services Home

Jackson County Public Schools is committed to providing a continuum of support to our students, their families, and the community. This continuum includes Social Emotional Learning, Student Support Services, Behavior Support, Project AWARE, Autism Support, and partnerships with community providers.

The Exceptional Children Program aims to support students, parents, and staff by developing programs to meet the needs of all learners. Our teachers and staff provide specially designed instruction to ensure that students with disabilities, from age 3 to 21, have access to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment. The EC Program offers academic and related services for students found eligible through a problem solving model.

Parent Handbook – English

Project Child Find

Policies Governing Services for Children with Disabilites

School counselors provide a comprehensive developmental school counseling program that improves student achievement and enhances the academic, career and personal/social development of all students. The comprehensive school counseling program is delivered through individual and group planning sessions. Professional school counselors provide services to students, parents, school staff and the community in the following areas:

• School Guidance Curriculum
• Individual Student Planning
• Responsive Services, and System Support

School counselors collaborate with parents, teachers, administrators, and other school staff to promote student success. They also provide leadership and advocacy to promote equity and access to opportunities and rigorous educational experiences for all students.

Congress reauthorized the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in January of 2002. This federal law includes the Education of Homeless Children and Youth Program that entitles children who are homeless to a free, appropriate public education and requires schools to remove barriers to their enrollment, attendance, and success in school. The McKinney-Vento Homeless Act protects all students who do not have a fixed, regular, and adequate residence.

Children and youth experiencing homelessness have the right to:

• Receive a free, appropriate public education.
• Enroll in school immediately, even if lacking documents normally required for enrollment.
• Enroll in school and attend classes while the school gathers needed documents.
• Enroll in the local attendance area school or continue attending their school of origin (the school they attended when permanently housed or the school in which they were last enrolled), if that is the parent's, guardian's, or unaccompanied youth's preference is feasible. If the school district believes the school selected is not in the student's best interest, then the district must provide the parent, guardian, or unaccompanied youth with a written explanation of its position and inform him/her of the right to appeal its decision.
• Receive transportation to and from the school of origin, if requested by the parent, guardian, or unaccompanied youth.
• Receive educational services comparable to those provided to other students, according to the student's need.

These rights are established under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act. This act is the primary piece of federal legislation dealing with the education of children and youth experiencing homelessness in U.S. public schools. It was reauthorized as Title X, Part C, of the No Child Left Behind Act in January 2002. To qualify for these rights, children and youth must be considered homeless according to the McKinney-Vento definition of homeless.

Eligibility Under McKinney-Vento:

• Sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason
• Living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Living in a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings
• Living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings
• Migratory children living in the above circumstances
• Unaccompanied youth living in the above circumstances
   

Guide for Parents, Guardians, & Caregivers 

Guía para padres y cuidadoras 

Jackson County Public Schools Homeless Data

• 2025-2026: 80 students
• 2024-2025: 80 students
• 2023-2024: 95 students
• 2022-2023: 98 students
• 2021-2022:  101 students
• 2020-2021:  110 students
• 2019-2020:  94 students
• 2018-2019:  110 students
• 2017-2018: 108 students
• 2016-2017: 103 students
• 2015-2016: 77 students
• 2014-2015: 127 students

For more information, contact:

Janet Roberts, Homeless Education Liaison
(828) 586-2311 ext 1928

Or, contact your child’s guidance counselor, nurse, social worker, or principal.

State Homeless Coordinator:
Lisa Phillips
(336) 315-7491

North Carolina Homeless Education Program

The school nurse serves in a pivotal role to provide expertise and oversight for the provision of school health services and the promotion of health education. Using clinical knowledge and judgment, the school nurse provides health care to students and staff, performs health screenings, and coordinates referrals to the medical home or private healthcare provider. The school nurse serves as a liaison between school personnel, family, community, and healthcare providers to advocate for health care and a healthy school environment (American Nurses Association & National Association of School Nurses [ANA & NASN], 2011).
 

Authorization for Medication Form 

Formulario de autorización para medicamentos

The intention of Section 504 is to ensure that "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability shall solely by reason of her or his disability be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, is a civil rights statute which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. This statute is enforced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). OCR enforces, also, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) reauthorized as the ADAAA of 2008 which extends this prohibition against discrimination to the full range of state and local government services (including public schools), programs, or activities regardless of whether they receive federal funding or not. Therefore, Section 504 is now part of the ADAAA and enforced as such.

Contact:
Janet Roberts
Director of Student Support Services
(828) 586-2311 ext. 1928 

Policies, Procedures, and Implementation Handbook

School social workers promote and enhance the overall academic mission of the schools by providing services that strengthen home, school and community partnerships and address barriers to learning and achievement. School social workers contribute significantly to building and maintaining a healthy, safe and caring environment in the schools. School social workers help build an understanding of the emotional and social development of children and the influences of family, community and cultural differences on student success. Student success is ensured through the development and implementation of effective intervention strategies.

The school social worker’s main task is to empower students, families and school personnel to access available opportunities and resources to develop each student’s potential. Responsibilities of the social worker include bringing together home, school and community; promoting diversity and cultural competence; dropout prevention and graduation awareness. School social workers adhere to federal and state statutes, School Social Work Standards and the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics.

Social workers provide case management and support in the following areas:

• Homelessness
• Food Backpack Program
• Mental Health Referrals
• Attendance
• School Needs (supplies, fees, field trip expenses)
• 504 Plans
• Accessing Community Resources
• Christmas Connection
• Homebound Services
• Transportation 
   

Attendance Policy 
 

Early Intervention Team

In order to address chronic absenteeism and to help families avoid court involvement, Jackson County Public Schools formed the Early Intervention Team which is made up of representatives from Department of Juvenile Justice, Jackson County Public Schools, Jackson County Department of Social Services, local mental health agencies, and Tribal Agencies. A meeting will be scheduled and representatives from the agencies listed above will work with parents and students to identify issues contributing to chronic absenteeism and immediately connect families with local agencies capable of offering assistance.
Homebound/Hospital Program Services & Procedures