JCISD Special Education Overview

With more than 4,000 children across Jackson County eligible for special education, the JCISD is committed to providing children with special needs the same opportunities as other children. Individual education plans, or IEPs, are created to help set learning goals and determine what kind of support and services each child requires for a meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling life. 

Our special education staff is made up of more than 200 professionally certified staff (including administrators, teachers, therapists, pathologists, psychologists, consultants, audiologists, nurses and social workers) and nearly 140 teacher assistants who work together to ensure each child receives the support they need. That includes transportation to and from school, by nearly 60 bus drivers and bus attendants who go through specialized training each year to safeguard children during their daily ride. Behind the scenes, JCISD personnel work diligently to secure federal Medicaid dollars and provide state-mandated pupil accounting services. The JCISD also acts as the fiscal agent for local districts’ special education reimbursements, as well as providing specialized case-management software free of charge to local school districts. 

The JCISD administers various special education services such as diagnoses, testing, evaluation and interventions through both center-based classrooms and local district-based classrooms. At the Lyle A. Torrant Center, there are classrooms for cognitively impaired (CI), autistic impaired (AI), and severely multiply impaired (SXI) students, as well as 0-3 early childhood. At the Kit Young Center, students 18-26 years old work toward independence by setting personal goals, engaging with their community and learning the skills necessary to become an employable adult. 

Within various local school districts, the JCISD also operates classrooms for: 

• Autistic Impaired 
• Emotionally Impaired 
• Hearing Impaired 
• Cognitively Impaired 
• Early Childhood 

Special education services are also provided for students in parochial schools and charter schools throughout Jackson County, as well as students in juvenile detention at the Youth Center.