exceptional children
Many NC school districts face funding shortages in serving students with special needs
Student exoduses to homeschools and private schools, combined with impacts of low salaries and inflation are leaving local school systems in a bind The public school system in Chatham County in an “OK spot” financially to meet the needs of the more than 1,200 children it serves in its exceptional children program, says Amanda Moran, assistant superintendent for academic services and instructional support. Those students in the exceptional children program make up roughly 13.5% of the district’s nearly 9,000 students.
State Board of Education panel rejects Torchlight Academy’s attempt to keep school from closing
A State Board of Education panel agreed Wednesday to recommend that Torchlight Academy in Raleigh close for good on June 30. Members of the state board’s Education Innovation and Charter Schools Committee (EICS) decision followed an impassioned push by Torchlight leaders to keep the K-8 school of roughly 550 students from closing. The state board […]
NC’s behavioral health system puts children with complex needs – and their parents – in impossible situations
Earlier this month, a North Carolina father contemplated an unthinkable decision: should he bring his 12-year-old son home from his group home without the services necessary to keep his son and the rest of his family safe, or abandon his son by not picking him up at discharge? In considering giving up his child, this father risks judgments and assumptions, though none of them would be accurate. The reality? He loves his son unequivocally. It is because he loves his son that he is pondering this horrific choice.
‘Illness’ sacks meeting to decide the fate of Torchlight Academy
A special-called meeting scheduled today between Raleigh charter school operator Don McQueen and the Charter School Advisory Board (CSAB) to discuss fiscal and program concerns at Torchlight Academy was canceled. Dave Machado, director of the state Office of Charter Schools, said the meeting was postponed “due to the illness of key parties.” Machado said the […]
New revelations point to additional violations at troubled charter schools
State officials say student records were wrongfully altered at Wake and Bertie County schools by the daughter of the couple who ran them The management of Three Rivers Academy and Torchlight Academy was a family affair when state monitors found “altered documents” in the schools’ exceptional children programs.