I came home from work and turned on Special Report just in time to see the Grapevine's coverage (third item) of the story of the service dog. The graphic carried only the picture on this blog and the university's seal. I'm told that the university administration has received a number of angry emails about it. As I mentioned Tuesday, it's not clear what the university could have done here, and I'm really surprised that people are writing to the university rather than the school district, which would not guarantee the service dog's safety and concluded that the threat the student teacher perceived was "a misunderstanding" and that "the student did not make a direct threat." As a reminder, here's one paragraph from the original story:

Things didn't go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with {Tech High assistant principal Lori} Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.

Given how highly trained these dogs are, and the expense that entails, there is reason to wonder about the school district's behavior in not providing guarantees over safety. One of the districts school board members is, I think, trying to talk about the issue, but be sure to have coffee while you read this and count the number of connecting flights he takes to make his point. If you can find it at all.

Labels: education, St. Cloud