Student Services

Our Mission 

Student Services is committed to supporting the instructional process by identifying and eliminating barriers to learning, advocating for the needs of the whole child, and empowering all students to become lifelong learners in the 21st century.

Alesha Powell

School Social Worker

aleshapowell@ccs.k12.nc.us

(910) 424-2312

Available: Monday thru Friday

Click on the following link for more info: CCS School Social Worker Homepage

 School Social Workers are trained mental health professionals with a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in social work. They are the link between the home, school, and the community. School social workers provide direct as well as indirect services to students, families, and school personnel, such as monitoring school attendance, promoting dropout prevention, consultation, information and referral, identification of at-risk students, and counseling. In addition, they provide prevention, crisis intervention, and conflict resolution.

Katrina Thornton

katrinathornton@ccs.k12.nc.us

(910) 424-2312

School Counselors:

Katrina Thornton                                                                                                

Available: Monday thru Friday 

TBD

Available: Monday thru Friday           

Visit the following link for more info: CCS School Counselor Homepage

Professional school counselors are certified/licensed educators with a minimum of a Master’s degree in school counseling, making them uniquely qualified to address students’ cognitive, socio-emotional, and career development needs by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. They also provide consultation, individual and group counseling, academic advisement. In addition, they provide prevention, crisis intervention, and conflict resolution.

Heather Ayers

School Psychologist

rotishahall@ccs.k12.nc.us

(910) 424-2312

Available: Monday thru Friday

Professional school counselors are certified/licensed educators with a minimum of a Master’s degree in school counseling, making them uniquely qualified to address students’ cognitive, socio-emotional, and career development needs by implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. They also provide consultation, individual and group counseling, academic advisement. In addition, they provide prevention, crisis intervention, and conflict resolution.

Sarah Hennessy & Jamie Mitchell

Academically or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) Teachers

(910) 424-2312

Available: Tuesday (Hennessy), Wednesday and Thursday (Mitchell)

The Cumberland County School System is committed to the academic success of all students. Its mission states that all schools will be safe and caring and that student achievement will continually increase with no differences among subgroups.

In keeping with the mission of Cumberland County Schools, the Board of Education adopts the following North Carolina definition of giftedness:

Academically or intellectually gifted students perform or show the potential to perform at substantially high levels of accomplishment when compared with others or their age, experience, or environment; academically or intellectually gifted students exhibit high-performance capability in intellectual areas, specific academic fields, or in both intellectual areas and specific academic fields. Academically or intellectually gifted students require differentiated services beyond those ordinarily provided by the regular education program. Outstanding abilities are present in students from all cultural groups, across all economic strata and in all areas of human endeavor.

Beverly Vilanueva

ESL Teacher

(910) 424-2312

Available: Wednesday and Friday

ESL services are available to any student who is enrolled in a Cumberland County school (grades K-12) and who has been assessed and identified as limited English proficient. ESL teachers maintain an Individualized Service Plan (ISP) for all LEP students actively in the program. LEP students are mainstreamed in their regular classes most of the school day. ESL instruction is provided using the “pull-out” instructional model in grades K-5 and for one elective class daily in grades 6-12. Differentiated instruction allows the ESL teacher to create the best learning experiences possible and is essential in meeting the individual language and academic needs of LEP students. State-adopted textbooks and a variety of resources are available to LEP students.

Cameron Rigans

Speech-Language Pathologist

cameronrigans@ccs.k12.nc.us

(910) 424-2312

Available: Monday thru Friday

When the need for evaluation has been determined and the parent(s) have signed consent for evaluation, we evaluate students using various tests. We test for speech sound delays/disorders, language delays/disorders, and fluency disorders (stuttering) and we have even had students with voice disorders. But schools are not hospitals or rehab clinics. Speech impairments in the school setting have to have an “adverse educational effect.” For example, if a child presents with a lisp, he/she does not get services at school unless the lisp affects the child’s education. Most of the children we work with have serious speech delays or disorders which impact their education and their ability to access the general education curriculum.

Jessica Reyes, BSN, RN

School Nurse

(910) 424-2312

Available: Wednesday & Friday

School nursing is a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well-being, academic success and life-long achievement and health of students. School nurses facilitate health services such as immunizations, communicable disease control, vision and hearing screening, and follow-up, health assessments, and referrals, and health counseling and information for students and families. School nurses actively collaborate with school personnel, students and parents to create health plans and to administer medication.

Tanja Zagaschtoko-Mathias

EC Case Manager

(910) 424-2312

Available: Monday thru Friday

The EC Case Teacher can address concerns about students eligible for special education services. They can verify service implementation and communicate with the student’s team to meet their academic and functional needs. In addition, she can coordinate Child Find. This is a coordinated effort between the Student Services Team and the Exceptional Children Services to locate and identify children and youth suspected of or diagnosed with a disability who might have intellectual, physical, or emotional disabilities and are unable to benefit from the regular school program without special assistance.

Alesha Powell

Cumberland County Schools Military Family & Youth Liaison

910-424-2312 ext. 720

Visit the following link for more infoMilitary Family & Youth Liason Homepage

The military family and youth liaison (MFYL) acts as a communication link between the installation and the school district in order to ease the transition for military students. The MFYL coordinates and supports efforts to: assess needs, build awareness of resources, and connect those with needs to support solutions.