During its Wednesday, March 2, meeting, the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) Board of Education voted to formalize a policy on allowing service animals in schools.
According to Assistant Superintendent Erin Simon, the policy will help parents understand the district’s process for allowing service animals onto school sites as well as inform teachers on how to bring a service animal on campus for learning purposes.
The policy states that service animals are allowed on a school campus as a teaching aid—provided the school principal gives written consent.
“For an individual with a disability, ‘service animal’ means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks related to the individual’s disability and for their benefit,” Simon clarified in a memo to the board.
Simon told the board during the meeting that while service animals have been allowed in LBUSD schools “for years,” the district never formalized its protocols.
“The [new] board policy really speaks to having animals in school for instructional purposes as well as animals specifically in the service of a student with a disability,” she said.
The policy also supports helping students with disabilities to access district programs and activities.
The service animal policy builds upon non-discrimination laws and the legal right to having a guide dog, as well as education code guidelines on the safe and humane treatment of animals in schools and teaching about kindness to pets.
“Instruction related to the care and treatment of animals teaches students a sense of responsibility and promotes the humane treatment of living creatures,” the policy states.
In one example of instruction, six dogs were brought into an LBUSD school on Catalina Island in 2005 to help students practice reading skills. Shy students from third through fifth grades gained confidence by reading aloud to a “non-judgmental canine listener,” according to Avalon School librarian Donna Sharpe.
The superintendent is accountable for “rules and procedures” that protect the health and safety of students, staff and animals at schools, the policy states. However, it maintains that “the district assumes no liability for the safety of animals allowed on district property.”
According to Chris Eftychiou, LBUSD public information director, since the policy formalizes existing practices, it shouldn’t result in significant changes for students or schools.
Eftychiou said LBUSD currently has three students who use service animals—all dogs.
