Coastal Academy

Welcome to a therapeutic learning environment! At Coastal Academy, we believe in the dignity and worth of every individual, the right of every student to have the opportunity to develop intellectually, socially and emotionally to their fullest potential, and that we are all students who can learn.Coastal Academy is proud to be one of only twenty-fo... ur programs that together form the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support. The GNETS mission is to support the local school systems continuum of services by providing comprehensive special education services and therapeutic support to students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders and students with Autism. The programs provide comprehensive educational and therapeutic support services to students who might otherwise require residential or other more restrictive placements due to the severity of one or more of the characteristics of the disability category of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). In 1970, the first GNETS program, the Rutland Center, was established in Athens to serve as a prototype for the statewide network that now exists. Based on a model developed by Dr. Mary M. Wood, the program was funded by the State of Georgia and the U.S. Department of Education to serve students from two to 14 years of age. Additional pilot programs were initiated in Brunswick and Savannah in 1971. By 1976, 24 GNETS programs were established throughout Georgia and then expanded to serve adolescents over the age of 14 in 1979.Students receiving services through a GNETS Program are referred by their local school system through the Individual Education Program (IEP) process. An IEP team may consider in-class services by a GNETS program for a child with an emotional and behavioral disorder based upon documentation of the severity of the duration, frequency and intensity of one or more of the characteristics of the disability category of emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). This documentation must include prior extension of less restrictive ...Read More