Therapy dogs have been removed from FHS as per a new school board policy. According to Dr. David Ferguson, the principal at FHS, “…Everything regarding therapy dogs is coming from school board policy.” Ferguson does not know why the school board enacted this policy, highlighting that this policy was “…before his time.” The county school office has also gotten rid of Doggy Daycare until further notice. Doggy Daycare was a program only offered at FHS, that allowed staff to bring their dogs into the school to be cared for by agriculture teacher, Susan Hilleary, and her students.

Hilleary ran the doggy daycare for four years until it was removed. “The biggest reason [doggy daycare] was stopped was because of [lack of] insurance,” Hilleary said. According to Hilleary, the lack of insurance means that if a student got bit by a dog, the parent or guardian could sue the school, so the office would rather be safe than sorry if an event did happen. Hilleary ran the doggy daycare for the “Small Animal Care” class and if students wanted a certificate for canine care, they needed “hands-on training” with dogs. A big reason that Hilleary ran the daycare was because “it helped teachers…so they don’t have to leave their dog for 10 hours a day…”

Ferguson said that removing doggy daycare gives him a chance to better understand it; it’s unclear whether or not doggy daycare will be brought back, though Ferguson has said that he’ll “investigate…the academic purpose of [doggy daycare].” Doggy daycare will likely stay removed until further notice. “We have protocols that we should be following to make sure everyone’s safe,” Ferguson said. “Right now until you have a full hold on something, you don’t wanna do it,” he finalized.