News From Our Department

Welcome to the WCS Exceptional Children Department

Welcome to the Watauga County Schools EC Department! Thank you for visiting our Watauga County Schools Exceptional Children (EC) Department webpage. We hope that you will explore and learn about all the wonderful programs and exciting things in place to support our students with disabilities. We have many helpful resources for both teachers and parents here as well.

Our Vision: 

The WCS EC Department will advocate for and support all students with disabilities to foster independence and self-advocacy and enable students to become contributing and productive citizens.

Our Mission:

The WCS EC Department creates an inclusive, positive learning environment to develop productive citizens and lifelong learners.  

Our goal:

To provide high-quality educational services and opportunities for students with disabilities to build upon their strengths and improve in challenging areas.

We strive to provide our students with the best teachers, resources, and programs. We continually reach out to our community partners and parents to strategically improve and expand our services. Remember, we are all in this together!

Services offered:

Watauga County Schools offers the full continuum of services in the least restrictive environment for all students with disabilities from PreK through high school.

• Our EC PreK program serves children in childcare centers and NC PreK classes in our schools. We also have Developmental Day PreK programs at Mabel and Bethel Elementary Schools.  We evaluate many children through our Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment Center.
• Each of our K-8 schools provides services for students with mild disabilities in the regular classroom and/or through resource support.
• Hardin Park, Cove Creek and Green Valley Elementary Schools have various self-contained programs for students with moderate, severe, more intensive behavior support and for children with Autism.
• Watauga High School provides co-taught classes, curriculum assistance, the Occupational Course of Study and three self-contained classes for students with moderate/severe disabilities.
• Related services such as speech language, occupational, music and physical therapy are provided to assist a child with a disability to benefit from special education.  
• We have a comprehensive, multi-layered Behavior Support program in place district-wide to help all our students with behavioral and social-emotional challenges.

We welcome your participation and support for our programs for students with disabilities.

If you have any questions or would like more information about our program, please contact your child’s school or the EC Department at 828-264-7190. 

Thank you for learning more about the WCS Exceptional Children Department.