Animals will be permitted in classrooms

After weeks of talking about psitticosis, salmonella, gerbils and doves, the Mat-Su school board has decided teachers can keep animals in the classroom, but everyone has to follow some new rules.

No wild animals will be allowed, animals won't be permitted to roam free, cages must be kept clean and children must wash their hands after touching any animals. At the same time, teachers will be held responsible for the proper care and handling of any critters in their room.

This is according to a new districtwide regulation adopted by the Mat-Su Borough School Board earlier this month.

During discussions at recent meetings, board members said they shared the administration's concern about health and safety. But they also heard from students and teachers who argued animals are an integral part of education. In response, the board loosened some of the rules proposed by the superintendent and her staff.

"What this whole page does is essentially say … there will be no animals in the classroom," said board member Carl Gatto as he held up a copy of the administration's proposal. "If we adopt this … that's what we're saying -- 'We don't want animals in the classroom.'"

The board went on to amend the proposal, striking a provision that would have limited classrooms to two caged animals and revising another that would have banned ducklings, chicks, turtles and birds from rooms in which children eat. Instead, these varieties of animals will be allowed as long as sinks are available for children to wash their hands between handling animals and eating.

Discussion of beefing up the existing rules came after the district administration reported to the board that animals were observed running loose in Mat-Su schools. In some cases, animals had been neglected and custodians had to wear masks and gloves while they cleaned up the messes.

At the same time, the district's risk manager pointed out the potential for children to be infected by salmonella, which turtles and some other animals carry, and the bird-disease psitticosis.

No cases of these diseases have been reported in Mat-Su schools, but statewide the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has recommended that birds be banned from elementary classrooms and that children under the age of 6 not be allowed to handle ducklings, chicks or pet turtles to avoid infection.

Teachers, however, have argued before the Mat-Su school board that animals improve their ability to reach students.

"That's what I have that I can hook them with," Wasilla Middle School teacher Debra Petersen told the school board. She said students with marginal interest in school have developed near-perfect attendance and a love of learning in large part because of the animals in her classroom.

"I don't want to lose that advantage by losing animals in the classroom," Petersen said.