School Committee Crafting Therapy Animal Policy

NORWOOD, MA — The Norwood School Committee is working on a new policy aimed at service and therapy animals for students.

The first draft, which was read at a recent meeting, aims to replace a previous animal policy which did not include therapy animals. Norwood Public Schools Nurse Leader Jill Driscoll, who was asked to be apart of the discussion, said she was strongly against the use of therapy animals in schools.

“It’s a crutch for students. We’re not helping them, we’re not teaching them, they’re not learning about who they are or what they need. Honestly, we’re supposed to be preparing them for real life,” she said. “Could you imagine on the elementary level if there’s a dog in the classroom? The students won’t get anything done, the staff won’t get anything done. We'll all be petting the puppy.”

The proposed policy defines service animals as a trained animal that can perform a service for a person, while a therapy animal is an animal that provides comfort for someone. It does not provide a service for a person aside from emotional comfort.

Superintendent Dave Thomson said he has experience with service and therapy animals from his previous school district with good results. He said a system was worked out with a guidance counselor who had a service dog and the animal remained in a certain space away from the general population.

“There are people abusing therapy animals, but they do have a purpose and they do have a function and there are students who have made significant progress by using a therapy dog. We tracked it. Increase attendance, increase achievement,” Thomson said.

There will be limits to where the animals can go, Thomson noted.

“We’re not talking about everyone walking around with a peacock,” he said.

The policy will return to the school committee at the end of the month for a vote.

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