Controversy revolving around students and their four-legged friends recently arose in Old Saybrook Public Schools and quickly took the community by storm. Superintendent of Schools Chris Drezek sent an email addressing the issue to parents, students, and staff of the schools on September 25th. In the email, Superintendent Drezek prefaced by saying, “I want to be clear, this has never been about banning pets. The concern is that without a process, we cannot ensure the safety of students or the well-being of the animals.”
Class pets, including bearded dragons and hermit crabs, that had been used as past practice in multiple classrooms across the K-12 district sparked concerns from the parents regarding the cleanliness of having animals in the classroom. An article published on News 3 informing that parents started a petition to allow class pets back into schools, quotes the organizers of the petition, writing “‘They provide hands-on opportunities for students to learn about biology, responsibility, and animal care. More importantly, they offer companionship and emotional relief’” That question led parents and other non-class pet teachers to ask: what’s the process for allowing pets in the classroom? Mr. Drezek wrote in the email that “there is currently no policy or procedure for staff to request or receive approval to have a pet in the classroom.” He noted the issue with allergies and diseases the animal may carry, and how administrators and school nurses would handle the issues. Many parents were concerned with the result of removing the pets from the classroom, largely due to the claim that their kids were learning better with the class pets, and the animals made their learning more hands-on and nature focused. Superintendent Drezek writes, “I want to acknowledge that many teachers have used pets creatively and with the best intentions to engage students. I deeply respect that commitment.” Other parents argued it was an issue that there was no policy in place whatsoever because of their child’s allergies or worries about diseases the animal may carry. Drezek writes in his email, “we learned that bearded dragons can carry salmonella and transmit it to humans, especially young children.” As varying opinions caused an uprising on social media, the district became eager to figure the controversy out, and decide whether or not they should be permitted to have classroom pets. Drezek said the next step is creating a policy: “The BOE policy committee is in the process of reviewing policies right now so hopefully we can get something quick to address this moving forward.”
