Walker County Special Education

Walker County Special Education Services

Currently Walker County serves over 1,600 students with disabilities including Autism Spectrum Disorders, Blind and Visually Impaired, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Intellectually Disabled (mild, moderate, severe, and profound), Orthopedically Impaired, Other Health Impaired, Specific Learning Disabled, Speech Language Impaired, Emotional Behavioral Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Significant Developmental Delay.  Ages served range from preschool age 3 through high school age 21.  

To ensure quality services, Walker County Schools employs staff to serve our students including special education teachers, paraprofessionals, speech / language pathologists, interpreters, an assistive technology specialist, related service personnel serving occupational and physical therapy needs, school psychologists, special education nurses, and educational diagnosticians.  To meet the unique needs of students with disabilities, Walker County Schools offers a variety of programs and a continuum of services including consultative, inclusion / co-teaching, and small group programs. In addition, students are served in homebound, special day schools, residential placements when necessary.  For our young students, the district also goes into our local Head Start facilities to provide support for eligible students.  All students in the special education program have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).  The IEP determines the placement that best supports the student in accessing their educational setting.  The students work on specific academic, behavioral, and / or functional goals. Walker County Schools currently has special education services available at every school site designed to meet the unique needs of the students in that school or area.  Additionally, there are specialized programs for low incidence populations of students to meet their unique needs.

Intent to Shred Student Records

You are hereby notified that the Walker County Department of Education, in accordance with Georgia State guidelines, will destroy all special education records of former students born on January 1 through December 31,2001.  The records of any student that graduated in 2021 or before with a regular education diploma will be destroyed as well.  These records are no longer needed for educational purposes.  All unclaimed records will be destroyed on April 1, 2026.  If you are affected by this and desire records for possible future benefits, please call 706-375-9900. 

Child Find

Walker County Schools is committed to the identification of children in need of special education services.  Parents of children age birth to two years who may need additional support should contact Babies Can’t Wait Early program at (706) 937-6670. For children ages 3 - 21 who may need special education services, please call the Special Education Department at (706) 375-9900.

Parent Mentor Program

The parent mentor program is a parent-drive initiative sponsored by the Georgia Department of Education Division for Special Education and Walker County Schools.Our parent mentor, Mrs. Michal Jones, is a parent of a child with a disability, and the purpose of her position is to provide education and support to families with the long term objective of giving all children a better chance to reach their potential. 

The mission of a parent mentor is to develop trust, support, encouragement, and understanding between parents and educators to build effective home-school collaboration and provide our children the opportunity to reach their potential.  Michal joined the Parent Mentor Partnership for Walker County in August 2006 and , regarding her role, said, “As a parent in the Walker County School System and the parent of a son with ASD, I can completely understand that navigating the Special Education system can be confusing and overwhelming.”

Mrs. Jones’s role as parent mentor is simply to help promote partnerships between parents and educators.  Please contact Mrs. Jones at michaljones@walkerschools.org, call 706-924-0298 or visit her FaceBook page for lots of excellent resources and a quick connection to her as well.  Mrs. Jones also has a webpage you can visit for additional supports and up-to-date information, and you may also visit the Georgia Parent Mentor Partnership homepage for more information about the Parent Mentor Program in Georgia.  

It is our pleasure to serve your children and your family in working to improve the outcomes for our students.  

Georgia Special Needs Scholarship

The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship provides eligible special education students with the opportunity to attend another public or an approved private school.

A parent can request a transfer to another public school within their school system as long as there is available space at that school and the school has a program with the services agreed to in the student’s existing Individualized Education Program (IEP). If the parent chooses this option, then the parent shall be responsible for transportation to and from the school. The deadline for requesting a school transfer within the Walker County School System for the 2025 – 2026 school year is September 5, 2025.

A parent may request a transfer to a school in another school system if there is available space and the school has a program with the services agreed to in the student’s existing IEP. The school system must agree to accept the student. If the parent chooses this option and the school system accepts the child, then the parent shall be responsible for transportation to a school in that system. The parent may also request a transfer to one of the state schools for the deaf and/or blind operated by the State Board of Education. Acceptance into a state school will depend on whether that setting is appropriate for the student’s needs. If the parent chooses this option, then the parent shall be responsible for transportation to the state school. Please contact the Georgia Department of Education for more information about transferring to a State School.

If you are interested in transferring your child to a private school in Georgia, you may be able to take advantage of a Georgia Special Needs Scholarship. These scholarships provide funding that can be used to offset tuition costs at participating private schools in the state of Georgia. For more information on the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship and the parent application process, please visit the Georgia Department of Education’s website at https://www.gadoe.org/Curriculum-Instruction-and-Assessment/Special-Education-Services/Pages/default.aspx

Resources

GA Department of Education: https://gadoe.org/

Walker County Parent Mentor: https://www.facebook.com/ParentMentor4WalkerCountySchoolsGA/

Governor's Office of Student Achievement-School Report Cards: https://gosa.georgia.gov/dashboards-data-report-card/report-card

Parents' Rights: https://lor2.gadoe.org/gadoe/items/c4fa3d92-4677-4921-85ce-bfa6da82b91d/1/viewcontent

Walker County Special Education Procedures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Q3JxJr_01bSUFO0iUh87LE0TPh9FTn6Q?usp=sharing

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports