Lee School is a unique public school located in Springfield, IL. Our total school population is around 260 students. Within our building we house three different programs.

Early Childhood
Lee School houses three Early Childhood Special Education classes. The three classes have sixty students which are divided into A.M. and P.M. sessions. Students range in age from 3 to 6 years old.

Special Needs
Lee provides special education services for students ages 5 to 22. Instruction focuses on functional academics with emphasis on life skill development.

Regular Education
Lee School also includes classes for regular education students grades kindergarten through fifth. Instruction focuses on the district’s core curriculum and state standards and benchmarks.

Our student enrollment generally consists of 43% Caucasian, 46% African-American, 1% Hispanic, 8% Multi-Racial, and 1% other. We are a Title I school.

Office hours --- 7:30 am-4:00 pm

Student Attendance hours:
K-5 --- 9:00 am-3:30 pm
Early Childhood --- 9:00-11:30 am/12:30-3:00 pm
Special Needs --- 9:15 am-3:15 pm

Lee School officially opens its doors at 8:35 in the morning. At this time, students who eat breakfast proceed immediately to the cafeteria line, while students not eating go to their assigned grade level breakfast table. The school day officially begins at 9:00 a.m. Late students need to come to the office first for a pass to class.

The school day officially ends at 3:00 for early childhood, 3:15 for special needs, and 3:30 for regular education.

** If you need to pick up your student early or make alternate pick-up arrangement, please call the school before 3:00 to allow a reasonable time frame for classroom teachers to ensure your child's safety.

The school building was opened for the 1979-1980 school year as the Special Education Developmental Center. The formal dedication was on March 9,1980. It housed classes for children with severe and extraordinary disabilities. In the fall of 1988 the Early Start program was added to the building. This program for at-risk preschoolers remained throughout the 1990-1991 school year.

In 1991 the building transformed into Edwin A. Lee School. "With the changing needs of special education students and the mainstreaming of many of those students, space became available in this building to accommodate a Primary population of kindergartners through fourth graders. Because of the changed role of the school, we decided it was appropriate to also change the name, and after receiving public input, the Board of Education of the Springfield Public Schools voted to rename the building for Dr. Edwin A. Lee." (Dr. Robert Hill, Superintendent of Schools). A formal rededication was held September 20, 1991 with Dr. Lee and his family in attendance.

Lee, who died in 1993 at the age of 79, weathered those humble beginnings and became a community leader who, while tirelessly healing his patients, worked to heal inequalities in everything from Springfield hospital rooms to classrooms.
— Jason Piscia, State Journal-Register