December 2023 EMSD Newsletter
Each December, the East Moline Police Department takes several EMSD #37 students shopping before the holidays. Police officers spend time with the students and shop with them as they pick out gifts for their family. The students are given an amount they can spend as our police officers chaperone them around the store and help them find the perfect items for their families. They then bring the items to the front of the store where they are checked out and then taken to a room where East Moline School District employees wrap the gifts for the children to take home.
We are thankful the East Moline Police Department cares about the children in our community and makes this event a priority each year. This has always been a wonderful opportunity for our students to see police officers in a different light and make more connections with positive adults in the community. It's been an annual tradition for over three decades and it took place again last evening at the Moline Target store. After the afternoon of shopping, our students returned to Glenview Middle School for a pizza party with the police officers. Everyone had a wonderful time and our students appreciated the special treatment they received from the police officers. You can see more pictures of the event from last evening below.
Joel Bjork, Custodian at Glenview Middle School
My grandma's fudge. Unfortunately, she’s not with us anymore but my wife can make it. My grandma was a crossing guard and lunchroom aide for 20 plus years at Bowlesburg Elementary. But my grandma's fudge was the best!
Tayler Walker, School Counselor at Bowlesburg Elementary
Holidays are one of my favorite times of the year. Being with family and friends makes it the best part, but I'm always reminded of those special days by the instant I smell warm cinnamon rolls! Following the cookies and milk for Santa Christmas Eve, we were always awoken by the smell of my mom's warm frosted cinnamon rolls! A tradition I hope to carry on!
Elia Nunez Raya, Secretary at Ridgewood Elementary
Khaoula Benhanachi, Bilingual Teacher at Wells Elementary
Peggy Phillips, School Bus Driver
Before they were part of the East Moline School District, two rural schools had their own long history. Wells School and Bowlesburg School were located in an area just south of East Moline and Silvis. Both schools were one room schoolhouses with children of different ages and abilities attending at the same time. These schools had limited resources and lacked the amenities we are accustomed to today, like indoor plumbing or electricity.
Prior to the construction of Wells School, the closest school was Grenell, located at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, Moline. Local families collaborated in 1849 to construct a one-room log cabin school. The cabin, approximately 12 x 18 feet in size, faced east on Seldom Seen Road, which is just down the street from the current Wells Elementary School. The new one room school featured a clapboard roof and was warmed by a wood-burning fireplace. It was called Wells School because it was located on a small piece of land next to Joshua Wells' farm, where teachers often lived. By the 1860s, the school served 12 students and had two teachers.
The students sat on eight or ten benches on either side of a central aisle. Coats and lunch pails were stored beneath the benches. The teacher's desk was located at the front center of the room. On the south side of the school, there was a loose log that children often removed to sneak out. Many of the students came from large families, with a few of the families having nine children each. The majority of children were from mining or farming backgrounds, as the area was bustling with these activities. Just south of the school was Seldom Seen Hollow Mine and several houses inhabited by miners were situated between the school and the mine.
In 1870, the original log cabin school was replaced by a one room frame building. This school would stand for 67 years before it was replaced in 1937 due to extreme overcrowding. Eleven years later, a new brick building was built as the new Wells School following a $64,000 bond approval by the local taxpayers. In 1949, Wells School would receive another update as they built a new well, renovated two rooms, installed fluorescent lighting and added modern plumbing thanks to the sale of land along Colona Road to the state of Illinois. By 1949, Wells School had seen five buildings and five generations of students come through their doors.
