Support Services

Special Needs Program

Gordon Parks employs a highly trained and dedicated Special Needs Staff committed to focusing on children who require specialized attention and therapies in order to realize their learning potential.  Each year, our Special Needs Staff works with over 30% of our student body in some capacity.  Some students in the Special Needs Program qualify for state-defined Special Education and have an Individual Education Plan.  However, many students who test at a low IQ will not qualify for special education under the state’s rules.  But, as a school dedicated to the conviction that “every child has promise,” we know that low-IQ students can greatly improve their academic and social performance with the appropriate supportive interventions.  For these reasons, our Special Needs Program serves all students who benefit from special services, not just students who qualify for state special education.  

Our Special Needs Program consists of work in five distinct areas: Special Education, Speech and Language Pathology, Vision Skills Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Integrated Listening Systems (ILS).  In order to deliver our Special Needs Program, we employ two full-time and two part-time certified special education teachers, one full-time certified speech and language pathologist and one part-time licensed occupational therapist.  

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Behavior Intervention Support Team (BIST)

We employ the BIST discipline program wherein every adult uses the same vocabulary and approach to teach children how to modify unacceptable behavioral.  Students exhibiting disruptive behavior must leave the classroom, examine their behavior, and then modify the behavior so that the teacher can continue to teach the class without interruption.  Disruptive students are referred to the CARE Room, a safe place where they can work with our full-time Behavior Intervention Specialist.  Once in the CARE Room, the child can speak with the Behavior Specialist about his or her negative behavior and create a plan to modify the behavior and return to his or her classroom community.  Our Behavior Specialist troubleshoots and works with the child until the behavior modification is made.  

Counseling Program

The Counseling Program offers support to students and their families dealing with a wide range of mental health concerns from clinical depression, bipolar disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, bereavement, post-traumatic stress disorder, conduct disorder and general anxiety.  The Program uses an interdisciplinary approach and provides cognitive behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, crisis intervention, group therapy, play and art therapy as well as integrated behavior intervention and physical health strategies.  The Program typically serves 25% of Gordon Parks’ student population.

Gordon Parks employs two licensed counseling professionals to deliver the School Counseling Program.  The school’s Behavior Specialist provides behavioral intervention support for those students in the Counseling Program.  In addition, the school employs a licensed Occupational Therapist who works to improve student self-efficacy and self-esteem through various physical health therapies. 

Intensive Reading and Math Programs

The Intensive Reading Program is designed to raise baseline reading levels of all students.  This program includes a full-time Supplemental Reading teacher and part-time Literacy Teacher who work one-on-one and in small groups with students who read below grade level, diagnostically identifying their struggles in language and prescribing the appropriate strategy of instruction.  As part of this Program, Gordon Parks implements a daily, uninterrupted 90-minute literacy block to allow our classrooms to focus on reading and writing skills.  Our Volunteer Coordinator identifies and trains volunteers to work with children needing additional reading help.  Once trained, these volunteers work with underachieving children on reading skills as outlined by the classroom teacher.

 The Intensive Math Program began in 2010 with the hiring of a new Supplemental Math Teacher, whose job is to raise our school's math proficiency.  The Supplemental Math Teacher works weekly with small groups of students who are not proficient in mathematics. She uses activities from our Investigations math curriculum and MAP test examples to individualize her teaching to meet the specific needs of a range of students. She also meets weekly with students who are advanced in math, using higher level math problems and logical thinking concepts to challenge them. The Supplemental Math Teacher also administers all math fluency tests, conducts our remedial tutoring program, and works with classroom teachers twice each month to discuss curricular goals, units of study, student progress and assessment review.