The Bridges Program has a goal to transition students back to a less restrictive general education setting with increased behavioral health and academic skills.

The Bridges Program is a public separate school program intended to serve students who are already receiving special education services. Students with IEPs who are continuing to experience significant social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties related to the student’s disability that interfere with school success, even with the provision of special education services and support in a traditional school setting, may require placement at the Bridges Program to meet their individual needs. Placements at Bridges Program are part of the continuum of special education services, and therefore should be discussed and determined within the context of an IEP Team meeting.

Program Components  

Serves 1st through 5th grade students

Students are on the North Carolina Standard Course of Study

We operate on a traditional school calendar

Students receive transportation through WCPSS Contract vendors

Students receive free breakfast and lunch

We use a proactive and responsive tiered behavioral health, academic and attendance instruction and intervention model

Our responsive standards-based tiered academic instruction and intervention model includes the use of WCPSS approved instructional resources and materials

Specials (i,e., Social Skills, the Arts, Physical Education, Media, Restorative Practices) 

Smaller instructional environment with a high staff to student ratio

Specialized staff: Behavior Support Teacher, Crisis Assistants, Full-time Social Worker

All staff are: trauma aware and trauma informed (Community Resilience Model) and trained in Nonviolent Crisis Prevention and Intervention (CPI)

Target Population

• Students experiencing academic, emotional and behavioral difficulties that are interfering with school success
• Students' difficulties may include academic, family, behavioral, social, neurological, and thought/mood disorders
• Elementary students, 1st - 5th grades

Transition

The goal is to determine an appropriate educational setting for each student. BRIDGES supports a student's transition by working directly with students and by supporting the student once he is placed in a less restrictive educational setting.

Referral to BRIDGES 

All referrals to the Bridges Program are initiated at the base school level through the base school's IEP Team.  Individual families are not able to refer students.

Bridges Program is a public, separate school special education program for students who are already receiving special education services.