Court To Decide If Service Dog Can Go To School

A court is set to decide whether or not an Illinois boy with autism can bring his service dog to school with him.

Carter Kalbfleisch, 5, began working with his service dog, Corbin, just a month ago, but already is more focused and less likely to have behavioral problems. What’s more, the boy is building confidence with the dog around since he is now routinely approached by people in public who want to ask about his dog.

With the school year approaching, Kalbfleisch’s parents planned to provide training for teachers and school staff to learn to work with the dog and hoped Kalbfleisch’s school would host an assembly so that the other students could be introduced to the dog.

Instead, school administrators told the boy’s parents he would not be allowed to bring the service dog to school.

Now the parents are suing the school district and say that separating Kalbfleisch from his dog during the school day would disrupt his therapeutic progress. A ruling is expected this week, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.