£ When the Ohio Department of Education invited Danielle Kneisly of Vandalia-Butler High School and her service dog, BoBo, to participate in emergency evacuation drills last summer, it was thought to be the first time a special-education student and service animal were included in driver training, said a DOE spokesman.
bus driver and also worked closely with an educational aide who is a dog handler and trainer. “We were new at this,” admitted Young. “Mom spoke to the
educational aide about it and then the driver. It was a pretty informal process — basically, information sharing.” At first, some educators were concerned about how the other students would react to having a dog in the classroom, but the novelty quickly wore off. Young said there haven’t been any problems transporting Spring on the bus, aside from one minor incident when the dog became a bit skittish because of the on-board noise level. Since then, there have been no bumps in the road. Vannessa Neubauer of Delavan, Wis., encountered several
obstacles when she fought for her son, Marty, to get permission to have his service dog, Hammer, accompany him to school each day. Some students and staff members were afraid of dogs, she noted, and they were also concerned about allergies. One of Marty’s teachers was allergic, so he had to attend one class on alternate days without his trusted companion. “Tey viewed an autistic (trained) dog as a comforter or thera-
py dog and not a service dog, and they didn’t have any policy. So I fought to get a policy on service dogs,” Neubauer said, adding that there is more awareness about this issue now because of cases like theirs. “I told them he turns 18 in a year, and he will sue you for his civil rights. Tey took care of it, so we never had to get lawyers involved. Many of my son’s teachers were fighting for him, too.” Te last part of the puzzle was transportation, she continued,
so she called the bus company to inform them her son would be accompanied by his black Lab each day on the school bus. Te key was to make transportation staff aware of Marty’s rights and to prepare them for any potential questions or conflicts. It was just as important to prepare Hammer for the ride as it was the people around him, she recalled. “We took him on school buses, commuter buses, on the 'L' and the train to get him used to transportation, because I didn’t know where my son was going to go and how he was going to get there. He doesn’t drive. Te only thing he has not been on is a plane,” said Neubauer. “Te dog is his best friend. He takes him just about
everywhere.” See Us At Booth #515
www.stnonline.com 17
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