School board considers therapy dog policy

PONDERAY — Pepper, a therapy dog at Farmin Stidwell Elementary, has impacted hundreds of students over the dog’s two years with the Lake Pend Oreille School District, Superintendent Dr. Becky Meyer said.

Meyer told LPOSD school board trustees that her hope is to have therapy dogs at every level within the district. To pave the way, the school board considered a first reading of policy at its first meeting of the year Tuesday. 

“I feel strongly about this,” Meyer said in introducing the policy to the board. “When I was a principal at Sandpoint High School we had a student that could not calm down without a therapy dog that one of our students with disabilities teachers had. It changed [things] from night to day and I saw the power of it.”

While it doesn’t work for every student, Meyer has witnessed the positive effect therapy dogs can have on students throughout her time working in education. She shared that her last district had therapy dogs and she was able to observe the effectiveness of students having access to animals at their schools firsthand. Dogs can be great reading buddies for students as well, she said. 

Therapy dogs typically stay in an office, such as a counseling office. District staff can volunteer to become a handler, which means they go through training, acquire liability insurance, and feed and take care of the animal.

Meyer said she is waiting for interested staff to come to her, she won’t ask staff to consider becoming a handler unless they want to do so. They have to show interest in going through the program to become certified. 

“We already have one dog, we have one in training, and I have inquiries from three other people in the district,” she said. 

Chair Geraldine Lewis pointed out that the policy does not offer additional compensation to handlers, so it is not the same as a district-funded program. 

New trustee Scott Wood was sworn in at the beginning of the meeting. During the meeting, the board also elected Lewis as the board chair and Lonnie Williams as the vice chair.

    Pepper watches a Sandpoint Middle School student read during a late November visit to the school. The Lake Pend Oreille School District is looking at therapy dogs throughout the district.

   Ellen Wassif stands with Pepper during a fall visit to Sandpoint Middle School.

    Pepper gives a "smile" for the camera during a fall visit to Sandpoint Middle School. The reading assistance dog has been such a success at Farmin Stidwell that the Lake Pend Oreille School District is hoping to add therapy dogs at all schools in the district.