Mission, Vision, and Purpose Statements

The mission of the North Metro GNETS Program is to provide comprehensive educational, behavioral, and therapeutic support services to students ages 5-21 with significant behavioral and/or mental health related disabilities using a holistic, person-centered approach to understanding the social impact of trauma and to implement effective evidence-based interventions based on the individual needs of our students.

Our vision is to educate our students to self-advocate for themselves, be self-sufficient, to think intensively and critically, to improve their lives, the lives of others, and for leaving their communities and the world better than they found it. Paraphrased from quotes from Marian Wright Edelman and Martin Luther King Jr.

The Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support (GNETS) is a service available within the continuum of supports for LEAs to consider when determining the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities, ages 5-21. GNETS services is an option in the continuum of supports that prevents children from requiring residential or more restrictive placement. Specifically, GNETS provides comprehensive educational and therapeutic support services to students who exhibit intense social, emotional and/or behavioral challenges with a severity, frequency or duration such that the provision of education and related services in the general education environment has not enabled him or her to benefit educationally based on the IEP. (b) GNETS services aim to support students with social, emotional and/or behavioral challenges. These students’ behaviors may include but are not limited to, significant, aggressive, self-destructive, atypical, and withdrawal behaviors. Children receiving GNETS services are taught coping skills, behavior regulation, and adaptive behaviors, with a keen focus on developing positive interpersonal relationships with others. (c) GNETS services are implemented with greater intensity and frequency than what is typically delivered in a general education school environment. The supplemental aids and services available at GNETS must be appropriate and necessary in order for the child’s IEP team to consider GNETS services. (d) GNETS will be staffed to meet the needs of a unique population of students requiring intensive individualized supports, including providing appropriate therapeutic services identified in the IEP. The staff receive specialized training in skills designed to deescalate major disruptive behaviors and assist students with meeting their IEP goals. (e) GNETS staff will collaborate with professionals from a variety of agencies to enhance students’ social, emotional, behavioral and academic development based on their IEPs. (f) The IEP team will assess at least annually whether the student with disabilities is ready to transition to a less restrictive setting. Progress monitoring data aligned with IEP goals should be reviewed to determine if the student is ready to receive a free appropriate education (FAPE) in the lesser restrictive environment.