St. Cloud Times - A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog. The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district. Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures. [snip] The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials.
The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs. [snip] 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 Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing. Julia Espe, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St. Cloud school district, said the school needed to do a better job communicating. [snip] Steffens said it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students. “I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse," Steffens said.
I saw this article yesterday - blame my rather ..................... warped .................... sense of humor, but I wonder, WHAT would be the reaction to Capuchin monkeys used as service animals - since THEY'RE known to 'fling their feces' {yes, before I'm 'dinged', I'm sure part of their training is NOT to fling} - but sometimes training just doesn't take ....................... ;-)
1 comment:
Thanks for the link back DM, much appreciated.
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