The Quincy School
Committee will vote on the following revision of Policy 9.7.12
at the December 7, 2022 Regular Meeting. Please submit
comments about the proposed policy revision to School Committee Clerk
Laura Owens at: [email protected]
SECTION
9.7.12 SERVICE ANIMAL POLICY
The Quincy
Public Schools does not permit discrimination against individuals with
disabilities, including those who require the assistance of a service animal.
The Quincy Public Schools will comply with Massachusetts law concerning the
rights of persons with guide or assistance dogs and with federal law and will
permit such animals on school premises and on school transportation.
The Quincy
Public Schools acknowledges its responsibility to permit students and/or adults
with disabilities to be accompanied by a “service animal” in its buildings, in classrooms, and at school
functions, as required by the Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act
and its implementing regulations found at 28 CFR Part 35.
For
purposes of this policy, a “service animal includes any dog that has been
individually trained to do the work or perform tasks for the benefit of an
individual with a disability”. The regulations further state that “a public
entity shall make reasonable modifications in policies, practices, or procedures
to permit the use of a miniature horse by an individual with a disability if
the horse has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the
benefit of the individual with the disability”. Service animals perform some of
the functions and tasks that individuals with disabilities cannot perform
themselves. Service animals are not pets.
No
animal shall be brought to school without prior permission of the
Superintendent.
1.
The animal must be “required” by the
individual with a disability.
The
animal must be “individually trained” to do work or a task for the individual
with a disability. The task performed by
the service animal must address one of the following needs for the disabled
individual: physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual and other mental
disability.
2.
For students on an IEP or 504 plan,
if a request is made to allow the student to have a service animal at school or
at a school-sponsored function, the IEP or 504 Team will consider the request,
and whether it can provide services and/or accommodations that would serve the
stated purpose of the service animal. If
the Team determines that it can meet the student’s needs and proposes
alternative accommodations and/or services, then the request for the service
animal will not be added to the IEP or 504 Plan.
3.
The Quincy Public Schools is
responsible for providing a safe learning environment for students, teacher and
staff. If the presence of a service
animal poses a health or safety risk to another member of the school community,
as documented by a physician, the school will weigh the needs of all parties
and will put forth a plan to provide reasonable accommodations.
4.
Only a dog or a miniature horse may
qualify as a service animal pursuant to Title II of the ADA. No other species
of animal, whether wild or domestic, will be permitted in schools as a “service
animal”.
5.
Owners of a service animal must
provide annual proof that the animal is up to date on all of its
required vaccinations.
6.
All service animals must be spayed
or neutered.
7.
All service animals must be treated
for, and kept free of, fleas and ticks.
8.
All service animals must be kept
clean and groomed to avoid shedding and dander.
9.
A service animal must have a
harness, leash, or other tether, unless either the handler is unable because of
a disability to use a harness, leash, or other tether, or the use of a harness,
leash, or other tether would interfere with the service animal’s safe,
effective performance of work or tasks, in which case the service animal must
be otherwise under the handler’s control.
10.
Owners of service animals are liable
for any harm or injury caused by the animal to other students, staff, visitors,
and/or property. The student’s parent or
legal guardian will be required to sign an acknowledgement of that liability
prior to the service animal coming to the school or to the school sponsor’s
activity.
11.
Removal of a Service Animal: A
school administrator may ask an individual with a disability or his parents to
remove a service animal from a school building, a classroom, or from a school
function if any one of the following circumstances occurs:
a.
The animal is out of control and the
animal’s handler does not take effective action to control it.
b.
The animal is not housebroken.
c.
The animal’s presence would
“fundamentally alter” the nature of the service, program, or activity.
12.
The Quincy Public Schools is not
responsible for the care or supervision of a service animal, including walking
the animal or responding to the animal’s need to relieve itself.
a.
The school district is not
responsible for providing a staff member to walk the service animal or to
provide any other care or assistance to the animal.
b.
Students with service animals are
expected to care and supervise their animal. In the case of a young child or a
student with disabilities who is unable to care for or supervise his service
animal, the parent is responsible for providing care and supervision of the
animal. Issues related to the care and supervision of service animals will be
addressed on a case-by-case basis in the discretion of the building
administrator.
The
Superintendent of the Quincy Public Schools or designee shall be responsible
for developing procedures to accommodate a student’s use of an assistance
animal in school facilities and on school transportation vehicles.
Reference: ADA
Regulations, 28 CFR Part 35 (as amended, 2010)