Special Education

The Special Education Department of the Bessemer City School System provides educational opportunities designed to help each student with a disability in preschool through grade 12 achieve his or her maximum potential. The Special Education Department is dedicated to providing services to students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment to the maximum extent appropriate and offers a complete range of services in all schools throughout the system.

The Special Education Department of the Bessemer City School System encompasses several programs: Special Education, Special Education Preschool, Homebound, and Gifted and Talented Education.

• We maintain a “Students First” philosophy. We structure each classroom and educational environment to meet the needs of every student.
• Our students learn, grow, and thrive in innovative programs that build independence and prepare each student for a successful transition to life after school.
• We provide and sustain a balance of life skills, academic skills, social-emotional supports, and transition curricular options based on students’ true and ever-changing/evolving abilities, interests, and future goals. 
• Each student is respected as a unique individual and offered high expectations, not bound by a label. Decisions and practices will be student-driven and based on evidence and data.
• We provide support to students so that they each actively participate in their educational processes, including the IEP process, and in activities that increase self-advocacy and self-determination.
• We work with parents as partners so that they are well informed and educated about programs and supports available to students within the District as well as when they transition to young adulthood.
• We will provide the necessary support to all staff so that they are informed both of student needs and of evidence-based ways to address and support those needs.