Photo submitted to the Times Observer Tiger, the Warren County Children’s Advocacy Center Facility Dog, is a calming presence for many children who visit the facility. The Warren County School District is considering adding a facility dog to its pupil services department.

Going to the dogs doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

On Monday, the Warren County school board’s curriculum, instruction, and technology committee discussed introducing therapy dogs and facility dogs to the district.

Special education has been an area of growth and challenge for the district.

Since 2008, the Warren County School District is down about 1,300 students — from 5,313 to 4,017. That enrollment drop of about 25 percent has not been accompanied by a corresponding reduction in special education needs.

During the 2020-21 school year, there were more identified district students with special education needs (901) than there were in 2008 (891).

The percentage of students with special education needs has grown from 16.8 percent to 22.4 percent of enrollment during that same time.

At Monday’s meeting of the school board’s curriculum, instruction, and technology committee, Director of Pupil Services Dr. Patricia Mead talked about special education successes that the district has been able to achieve as well as the challenges facing the district and its teachers.

The possibility of dogs playing a role in the district’s special education program was brought to the fore recently.

“The school community recently suffered traumatic events, and this has had a lasting effect on our students and staff,” Mead said. “In response to the recent event, the district organized postvention services which included community providers and a collaboration with two therapy dog organizations. The recent collaboration with the therapy dog organization provided the district with an opportunity to directly observe the positive influence a therapy dog has on the school climate.”

The district introduced a survey and has received over 400 responses.

A strong majority — 73 percent — “feel that having therapy and/or facility dogs in our school setting would… help reduce stress and anxiety,” Mead said.

“I would like to implement therapy dogs this spring and facility dogs in the fall,” she said.

New Hope Assistance Dogs would bring dogs that are in training as therapy dogs into the schools. The program would be mutually beneficial and neither side would pay the other, Mead said.

Unlike familiar service animals, a therapy dog interacts with people other than its handler while working.

“A certified therapy dog provides comfort and affection, and their handlers are volunteers who visit hospitals, schools, nursing homes, hospice, libraries, and other facilities,” Mead said. “These therapy animals have no special rights and must have the permission of the facility to visit.”

“Therapy dogs play a different helping role than service dogs and emotional support animals,” she said. “Their responsibilities are to provide psychological or physiological therapy to individuals other than their handlers. These dogs have stable temperaments and friendly, easy-going personalities. Unlike service dogs, therapy dogs are encouraged to interact with a variety of people while they are on-duty including petting the therapy dog.”

“Facility dogs are regularly present in a residential or clinical setting,” Mead said. “A facility dog is a dog that utilizes its special skills and training in animal assisted interventions to help providers achieve specific treatment or program goals. ”

There are similarities and differences between facility and therapy dogs.

“A facility dog is like a therapy dog, but unlike a therapy dog which may visit patients or residents at the facility accompanied by its handler for a few hours a week, a facility dog works full-time at the facility under the care and supervision of a staff member.”

A facility dog would be purchased by the district.

Asked how much one might cost, Mead said the details have not been worked out, but that she believes the board will be pleasantly surprised by the amount.

The committee and board members encouraged Mead to move forward with her talks and to provide further details to the board in the future.

“I look forward to some samples,” Committee Chairman Joe Colosimo said.

“An audition,” Superintendent Amy Stewart said.

“I can schedule that,” Mead said. A preview was part of the discussions and New Hope has already talked about bringing a dog to a school as a sample.