The Office of Exceptional Learning supports educational programming for students, ages two to twenty-one, who are eligible for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA ’04).
If you suspect that your child may have a disability requiring special education, contact your child’s school principal, or the office of special education at 📞(757) 494-7600.
Child Find
Chesapeake Public Schools will implement on-going and continuous strategies to identify, locate, and evaluate children residing in its jurisdiction or children parentally placed in private schools (including those that are home-schooled or home-tutored) within its jurisdiction who are birth to age 21 inclusive and are suspected as having a disability and/or need special education and related services as defined in the Virginia Regulations. Strategies will focus on: children in typical homes; children who are mobile, including those who are homeless or migrant, and who are wards of the state; children who are under 18, who are suspected of having a disability who need special education and related services, and who are incarcerated in a regional or local jail for 10 or more days; and children who are suspected of being children with disabilities, even though they are advancing from grade to grade. Any child who is identified as having a disability and qualifies for special education is entitled to a free appropriate public education designed to meet his/her needs.
Staff members are available to assist in the referral process for special education services, to explain the nature of disabilities, the early warning signs of disabilities, and the need for services to begin early. For additional information about 2-4 year old children suspected of having a disability, contact the Preschool Intake Team at 📞(757) 494-7600. For school-aged children, please contact your child’s school, the special education administrator assigned to your child’s home-zoned school at 📞757-494-7600, or the Family and Community Engagement Specialists at 📞757-482-5923.
Section 504/Disability Discrimination
Should you have any questions concerning the application of Section 504, please direct them to the school division’s Section 504 Coordinator. Additional questions can be directed to-
Dr. Craig S. Pinello
Edwards-Wilson Center
2107 Liberty Street
Chesapeake, Virginia 23324
Phone: 757-494-7600
Fax: 757-494-7573
