Service Animals In School Considered By Milford Board Of Education

MILFORD, CT — Milford's Board of Education is considering a board policy regarding service animals in schools.

“This is not a required policy, but we predict we will need one,” Dr. Anna Cutaia said, Milford Public School superintendent. “We were contacted by a potential future family whose child may have a service animal upon registration. We thought we needed to do the work and be ready.”

Milford’s Board of Education held a first reading for Board Policy P-6163.32 Service Animals in Schools on Monday, July 10, and the second reading will be held on Aug. 28.

According to the policy, a service animal is any dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. The policy states that service animals do not include any other species of animal, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, except that a miniature horse will be permitted for use as a service animal if reasonable modifications can be made after assessing specific factors.

“I asked about the miniature horse, and evidentially there was a challenge to the policy that went all the way to the state because there was an individual who needed a miniature horse,” Cutaia said.

Cutaia said a student can’t show up to school with their dog. They have to go through the entire process.

“Likely, we will need a Section 504 or IEP/PPT meeting,” she said. “That’s where all the details will be discussed on appropriate documentation that we will need to justify having a service dog with a student in school.”

One of the regulations under the policy is that the district can exclude service animals from buildings for various reasons, including the presence of the animal that directly threatens the health and safety of others.

Cutaia said if a student is allergic to the animal, they will fall under this regulation. The board of education would have to consider that when deciding whether to allow a service animal.

Other regulations under the board policy include admitting service animals to public events at schools, delegation of responsibility, and using service animals on school property by school visitors.

“We do need to develop those regulations to guide this process and get answers to these questions,” Cutaia said. “This would be something new to us, and we would have to develop some administrative regulations and protocols and have good communication if and when we had a student that might need a service animal.”

The full board policy can be read here.