Posted on 05/14/2008 5:08:52 AM PDT by SJackson
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.
The seizures, which can occur weekly, are from a childhood injury.
The dog has a pouch on his side that assists those who stop to help Hurd.
Hurd said he was unable to finish his 50 hours of field training at Tech. The university waived the remaining 10 hours, he said. He plans to do his student teaching outside a high school setting.
“We came up with a solution because I felt threatened by it," Hurd said.
The school district and university are working to make sure a similar situation doesn't happen.
Kate Steffens, dean of the college of education at St. Cloud State, and Tech assistant principal Lori Lockhart met Thursday.
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.
Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.
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.
“I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Espe said.
Espe said the school's investigation determined the student did not make a direct threat.
“We certainly welcome (Hurd) in our district, and we hope we can get this all resolved so he feels welcome and his dog is welcome," Espe said.
St. Cloud State places about 1,000 students in 240 schools to help prepare them for careers in education.
In St. Cloud school district, 330 are in the field training program Hurd was in and 94 are in student teaching.
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.
Steffens called Hurd a good student and committed young man.
Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication.
“I'm not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here," Loch said.
If YOU do them, it's off to the rubber room with ya....
You know, that’s really okay, Mohammed, because I forbid you to touch my dog anyway. But, if you threaten a single hair on his head, I do hope you’re allowed to touch fish, because you will be sleeping with them before the next sunrise. That’s a promise.
The Somali has committed a crime! FILE A CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AND CHARGE HIM! Name someone in public besides the victim--let the creep who threatened his dog feel some heat. Publish his picture on the net!! Sue him!
Fight back!!
“Accused chinese agents of being chinese agents.”
That’s interesting. We had five people from the PRC join between 12-15 May who were in a thread...nobody thought that was unusual. But I’d never seen anyone from the PRC on here before at all.
“...where we didn’t really prepare either side for possible implications,” Espe said. “
I thought service animals were protected by law. What “implications” are she talking about, that the “immigrant’s rights” trump US law, or what?
I came across this video in tribute to those who lost their lives on 9/11. It made me cry. It is the most moving tribute that I have ever seen, and I think it should be required viewing for every Ameican yearly. How quickly most of us have forgotten, and have become apathetic again.
http://www.frugalsites.net/911/attack/
Be sure to read the author’s account of his own experiences on that day.
Or hired a Muslim to be a cashier and expected them to do their job and scan pork products, or was a teacher and expected the kids to draw "gasp" people! (images forbidden in Islam), or paid for their college education and expected them to not wash their feet in the sink...... (good bye Minnesota)
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