Special Education

Teachers or parents desiring that a child be considered for an evaluation for special education services should contact their building principal to discuss their request and concerns. For further information regarding special education programs, procedures, or parent/guardian rights, please contact Mrs. Jaylee Swanson, Director of Special Education at (309) 792-2887 option 3.

Article XIV of the School Code of Illinois places responsibility on local school districts to provide and maintain appropriate and effective educational programs for all exceptional children who are residents of the district. A child is eligible for service if she or he needs special education and/or related services as a result of having one or more of the following characteristics or conditions: Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disability, Hearing Impairment, Cognitive Disability, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disability, Speech/Language Impairment, Speech/Language Pathology Services, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visual Impairment.

Special education programs and related services are available to children with disabilities ages three through twenty-one and who are enrolled in East Moline School District 37. Depending on the nature and severity of the child’s educational need, programs are either provided at East Moline School District 37 schools or through the Black Hawk Area Special Education District (BHASED). East Moline School District #37 is a member of the Black Hawk Area Special Education District, a special education cooperative serving 14 area school districts.

East Moline School District 37 provides the following special education programs and services for eligible students within the local schools:

  1. Screenings by professional personnel to identify students with potential hearing, vision, speech/language, learning or emotional problems.

  2. Speech and language therapy for preschool through middle age.

  3. Special classes and resources for children with mild and moderate cognitive disability (CD), emotional disability (ED), and learning disability (LD).

  4. Special classes for preschool aged children with significant developmental delays or disabilities.

  5. Services to children labeled as Other Health Impaired (OHI), Traumatic Brain Injured (TBI) and/or Autistic are available to children within East Moline School District 37 schools depending on the nature and severity of their disabilities.

  6. Tutoring services for those requiring special placement at home or in a hospital because of a “temporary health impairment.” Special education services for children with more intense or severe disabilities are provided through the Black Hawk Area Special Education District inter-district programs. The inter-district programs include classrooms serving children in or with:

    1. Early Childhood Education

    2. Hearing Impairments

    3. Moderately/Severely/Profoundly Cognitively Disabled

    4. Emotional Disability

    5. Autism

All elementary buildings are directly serviced by certified special education teachers holding multiple certifications. Children needing a limited amount of special education services are educated in their home school as much as possible. These children are assigned consultation or resource special education services for the amount of time necessary to meet their unique learning needs.

All East Moline School District 37 students of elementary age in need of special education services for a significant portion of their instruction have instructional services available to them at specific buildings within the district.

  • Early Childhood Special Education Program—Wells Elementary School

  • Primary and Intermediate LD/CD cross-categorical programs- Wells Elementary School and Hillcrest Elementary School. 

  • Elementary Emotional Disability Program- Ridgewood Elementary School

Students eligible for special education in grades five through eight have available to them consultation, resource, and instructional services at Glenview Middle School, as well as the various itinerant and inter-district services available through Black Hawk Area Special Education District.

RESOURCES: