Service Dog Will Assist Daniel Hand School Student in Madison

MADISON, CT - In addition to the students attending Daniel Hand High School this year there will be an additional attendee - a Labrador Retreiver trained service dog assisting one of the students.

High School Principal Anthony Salutari, Jr. recently wrote this note to introduce the Hand High School community to Scott - the dog who will be joining students at the high school.

Dear Parents/Guardians/Students,

This letter is to inform you that we will be welcoming a new member to our school community. We anticipate that at the start of this school year or soon after, there will be a service dog at Daniel Hand High School assisting one of our students.

Scott is Labrador Retriever trained as an Autism service dog to assist one of our seniors, Maeve Miller, in the school and community. Importantly, the purpose of service dogs is to perform work or tasks for their handler. Therefore, students, and those visiting the school or school activities, should not play with, pet, or otherwise interact with service dogs so that those dogs can do their important jobs.

In addition, service dogs may not have any specific indicators identifying them as a service dog, so students and visitors should assume that any dog in the school is working, and therefore unavailable for interactions with others, unless informed otherwise. At Daniel Hand High School, we will be teaching students the expectations surrounding service dogs, including that service dogs are present at school to "work" and not as pets. In addition, we will not tolerate any teasing of the student or service dog and anyone who engages in such inappropriate behavior will be subject to discipline.

We look forward to this new addition to our school community. Thank you for your understanding and support. Please contact our school nursing office if your child has any allergies to dogs or other health concerns or fear of dogs even if you have provided this information to the health office or someone else in the school in the past, as we want to address any concerns or needed accommodations.

If you do not hear back from us before the start of the school year, please contact us again so that we can ensure that this important information is not missed as we are busy preparing for our new year. Also, please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,

Anthony R. Salutari, Jr.
Principal