Circleville Elementary School – Starting in January, students and staff can expect to see two new ‘staff members’ on campus in the form of therapy dogs Bailey and Bayley as a part of our district health and wellness programming.
Bailey No. 1, a Golden Doodle, and Bayley No. 2, a Labrador, are being invited on campus to assist students with social-emotional learning. This new therapy dog program is designed to help students reduce stress and regulate their emotions by interacting with Therapy Dogs International certified, registered therapy dogs while at school.
To receive a Therapy Dogs International (TDI) certification, all dogs must be tested and evaluated by a Certified TDI Evaluator.
- A dog must be a minimum of one (1) year of age and have a sound temperament.
- Each dog must pass a TDI temperament evaluation for suitability to become a Therapy Dog. The test will also include the evaluation of the dog’s behavior around people with the use of some type of service equipment (wheelchairs, crutches, etc.).
The dogs will be escorted by trained handlers as they work with small groups of students whose parents or legal guardians have given their written authorization for their participation during school hours for approximately 15–20 minutes. All CES families must fill out the digital permission slip indicating whether their child will be participating or not in the program.
In the online permission slip we are also asking families to identify whether their child has any pet sensitivities to dogs or has a documented allergy to inform our nurse about from their healthcare provider.
To streamline the e-permission slip process, you can fill out the link here (click here) or on the front page of the Circleville City Schools website.
The therapy dogs and their handlers have undergone specific training to participate in animal-assisted therapy. We are very excited to have Bailey and Bayley join the Circleville Elementary team in January as a part of our student health and wellness programming in 2020!
Submitted by Circleville City Schools’ Red and Black Report
