Mid-Prairie School Board considers new therapy dog policy

By Cheryl Allen
Posted 8/23/22

Professional School Therapy Dogs, which provide emotional and physical support in an educational setting, are currently used in the Mid-Prairie Community School District; however, these dogs have …

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Mid-Prairie School Board considers new therapy dog policy

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Professional School Therapy Dogs, which provide emotional and physical support in an educational setting, are currently used in the Mid-Prairie Community School District; however, these dogs have always been owned by the school district.  A new policy that allows employee-owned therapy dogs to work in the schools was considered by the Mid-Prairie Board of Education at their business meeting on August 22.

The new policy would require an employee-owned professional therapy dog to meet the same requirements as a school-owned therapy dog, including training, certification, passing a Public Access Test, verification of health records, and administrative approval.  However, instead of the therapy dog being the financial and legal responsibility of the school, the dog’s care and expenses would be the responsibility of the employee-owner.

Other school systems allow employee-owned therapy dogs to work in their schools; the Board considered a proposed policy (606.9 Employee-Owned Therapy Dog Policy) and associated documents that are similar to those used by Ottumwa Community Schools.  After some discussion, the Board approved the First Reading of the new policy.

 

School Finance

The Board also approved the First Reading of Bond Disclosure Policy 704.7. The Board is required to make initial offering and on-going annual disclosures on bond securities the District issues or guarantees under the Federal Securities laws, including anti-fraud provisions.  Piper-Sandler, the District Financial and Bond Advisor, assists the Board in assuring these disclosures are made by the state deadlines.  Policy 704.7 assures that the Board knows and follows these requirements.

Finally, the Board approved the First Reading of Board Policy 704.2.R1, Post-Issuance Compliance Regulation for Tax-Exempt Obligations.  This regulation needed to be reapproved because it was updated after changes were made to the original Section 7 on Advance Refunding. 

Hawk Highlight

In a previous meeting, Superintendent Brian Stone introduced the Hawk Highlight as a new part of the Board’s agenda.  This week, Mid-Prairie principals Robin Foster, Rachel Kerns, Chuck Banks, Frank Slabaugh, and Rob Hruby discussed how positive their recent Professional Learning Communities Training has been, and how they look forward to using the time made available on in-service and early-out days to work through what they have learned with their teachers and staff.  They are excited about the potential positive impact of their work on students.

Next Meeting

The Board’s next regular meeting will be held Monday, September 12 at 6:15 at the Mid-Prairie Middle School Media Center.  This one-time location change is so that the Board can take a building tour of the school during the Work Session following the meeting.