About Us
The Burke County Student Services Department provides Psychological Services and Special Education Services for students with disabilities.
The Burke County School System provides over 75 highly trained teachers and paraprofessionals to serve the needs of our students with disabilities. Services range from consultation where the student is only monitored by their case manager and spends the entire day in a general education classroom to self-contained / alternate site services for those needing intensive assistance. Most of our students are served in "inclusion" classrooms. These are general education classrooms with a second teacher or paraprofessional who provides additional instruction or co-teaching for the whole class, in small groups or on an individual basis for the disabled student. We also have outside agency personnel to serve students with physical, motor, or sensory needs. For eligible, identified students, services can begin as early as age 3 and can continue until graduation if needed. The primary goal of this department is to provide assistance to students in becoming independent learners and ultimately fully functioning adults.
The Burke County School System provides over 75 highly trained teachers and paraprofessionals to serve the needs of our students with disabilities. Services range from consultation where the student is only monitored by their case manager and spends the entire day in a general education classroom to self-contained / alternate site services for those needing intensive assistance. Most of our students are served in "inclusion" classrooms. These are general education classrooms with a second teacher or paraprofessional who provides additional instruction or co-teaching for the whole class, in small groups or on an individual basis for the disabled student. We also have outside agency personnel to serve students with physical, motor, or sensory needs. For eligible, identified students, services can begin as early as age 3 and can continue until graduation if needed. The primary goal of this department is to provide assistance to students in becoming independent learners and ultimately fully functioning adults.
P. Michelle Dye, Ed.S., Student Services Director
17 years of experience in education
17 years of experience in education
Duties Include:
Administration of the Special Education Program and policy development
Maintenance of records and due process procedures
Special education budget
Coordination of procedures for identification, referral, testing, placement, dismissal, promotion, and transfer of special education students
Preparation of reports
Assistance in recruitment of special education teachers
Supervision of School Psychologists and SST/MTSS/PBIS
GO IEP system administrator
Administration of the Special Education Program and policy development
Maintenance of records and due process procedures
Special education budget
Coordination of procedures for identification, referral, testing, placement, dismissal, promotion, and transfer of special education students
Preparation of reports
Assistance in recruitment of special education teachers
Supervision of School Psychologists and SST/MTSS/PBIS
GO IEP system administrator
School Psychologists:
Katharine McCullough, Ed.S.
Karen Vandiver, Ed.S.
Linda Rich-Mason, Ed.D.
Duties of School Psychologists include:
The primary job function of a school psychologist is to facilitate individual students as well as school populations in making academic progress and maintaining appropriate social/emotional adjustments to the various school environments. This is accomplished through consultative services with teachers, administrators and parents, direct services to students, assisting administrators in program assessment, training school personnel and providing information to parents as appropriate.
Consults with school personnel and/or parents
Consults with students on a short-term basis within the framework of crisis intervention, assessment and/or the agency linkage process
Provides comprehensive psychological/educational evaluations and formal reports relating to learning, social/emotional, behavioral and related problems within the school setting
Participates in various committee meetings, such as risk assessment meetings, agency meetings and special education eligibility and/or IEP meetings
Provides technical assistance and support relevant to implementation, refinement and maintenance of the Response to Intervention model, Student Support Teams (SST) and related school initiatives.
Provides support through in-service and training sessions on a variety of topics
Tracy Colebrook, Ed.D., Student Services Facilitator
Duties of School Psychologists include:
The primary job function of a school psychologist is to facilitate individual students as well as school populations in making academic progress and maintaining appropriate social/emotional adjustments to the various school environments. This is accomplished through consultative services with teachers, administrators and parents, direct services to students, assisting administrators in program assessment, training school personnel and providing information to parents as appropriate.
Consults with school personnel and/or parents
Consults with students on a short-term basis within the framework of crisis intervention, assessment and/or the agency linkage process
Provides comprehensive psychological/educational evaluations and formal reports relating to learning, social/emotional, behavioral and related problems within the school setting
Participates in various committee meetings, such as risk assessment meetings, agency meetings and special education eligibility and/or IEP meetings
Provides technical assistance and support relevant to implementation, refinement and maintenance of the Response to Intervention model, Student Support Teams (SST) and related school initiatives.
Provides support through in-service and training sessions on a variety of topics
Tracy Colebrook, Ed.D., Student Services Facilitator
Duties Include:
Assist the director in various aspects of special education programs
Assist in scheduling IEP meetings
Serve as LEA of IEP meetings
Assist with intervention development (academics, behavior)
Collect referral and academic data for SWD
Provide professional development and technical assistance
Assist with accurate maintenance of special education records
GOIEP Administrator
Pam Lambert, Student Services Secretary
Over 30 years in education at the school and central office level
Duties Include:
GO IEP administrator
Office Manager
File management
Transfer of records
Ordering/purchasing for special education materials