School Bans Service Dog

[punisher73]

I'm very familiar with FCPS; they are generally very supportive of students with various special needs. However, this seems like they're simply trying to balance the student's needs with their duty to see to the safety of everyone at the school. Dbell described a poorly trained dog (or one with improper ongoing training); add to that the chaos of a school environment (and Ft Belvoir Elementary is in one of the more interesting parts of Fairfax County, and draws students from a wide range of backgrounds). It doesn't seem that the school has said that the dog cannot be used -- but that the dog cannot be used unless they are confident that the dog will be under control. Rather a different statement, no?

But isn't this what our "news media" has come to? Sensationalize a story and paint it so there is a poor "victim" in the case and how evil and bad the other party is to deprive something that is their right. I think we can all think of several news stories that have crucial details purposely left out or put in such a way as to be missed by most.

 

[dbell]

Oh the fun games that could be had with that

And they do often, no one seems to like the Director....

 

[MJS]

you dont need to convince me, my wifes family raised and bred dobermans at one point. So I have no problems with German Shephards, I would love to have one, but I dont want to deal with all the work it takes for upkeep... although my kids are rapidly talking me into getting a dog...
anyways, I think you are thinking of a best caase scenario here guys.
the truth? Kids are kids, they screw around, there are good kids, bad kids, and mischevious kids. I would not be surprised to see a kid scream, or yell, make a loud sudden noise, throw something at the dog, make fun of the kid, or something... and who is to say the dog wouldnt react... most ikely not even bite the kid who did it, but maybe the kid closest to it... like I said they should have no problem putting some kind of muzzle on the dog so that it cant bite even if it wanted too. That should clear things up.
But what if another kid is allergic to dogs? I know of a kid in my sons class that is allergic to dogs, another neighbor boy is allergic to dogs, and I have a couple karate students who are also allergic to dogs..
there are all kinds of problems that can present itself, and most of them are not the concern of the dog being vicious.

Hmm..good points and I didn't think of the people who may have a reaction, medically, to the dog. I can only echo Mac's comments....it may be a pain in the rear, but moving the kid to another room, seeing who in his classes, could possibly have a reaction to the dog, etc.