DE PERE (NBC 26) — The dog days of summer may be over, but the dog days of school are just getting started for students in the Unified School District of De Pere.
- The district boasts a therapy dog in each of its three elementary schools, and will add a Bernedoodle puppy named Oakley to an intermediate school in 2025
- The district raises between $7,000 and $10,000 in donations to train and maintain each dog
- It says other school districts statewide are asking about the program's success
- Students that are allergic or scared of dogs can opt out of the program
- Video introduces you to Charlee, the district's first dog, and Oakley, its newest addition, and includes the benefits of the program
(The following is a transcription of the broadcast story, edited for length, with additional details for web)
A Bernedoodle puppy named Oakley will join the Foxview Intermediate School staff for the 2025 school year.
"We've had Oakley here on site doing some limited walkthroughs," principal Andy Bradford said."Just getting used to the sights and the sounds of the school, what he can expect when he's here."
He'll join three other therapy dogs at the De Pere elementary schools as full-time district employees.
"Charlee is our therapy dog, and we love Charlee, but she's not a pet," Luke Herlache said. "She's a staff member, so she's under contract with us."
Herlache, Dickinson Elementary's principal, says the chocolate lab has been a huge success.
"The kids just light up when they see Charlee walking down the hall."
Charlee helps students in emotional distress recover quickly, getting them back into the classroom much quicker than the 30-40 minutes, on average, it might take before Charlee started at the school three years ago.
"That was down to 10 minutes on average," Herlache said. "And so kids were getting back into the classroom, missing less [class]."
Charlee is also a learning tool, as some students who are hesitant to read out loud will read to the dog — and others will pick up a pen.
"They write to Charlee," Herlache said. "They'll write letters to her, and she has a little mailbox. And then our fourth graders will write back as Charlee to the little kid. So there's a lot of different academic ties to it as well."
Training a dog costs $7,000 to $10,000 of private donations each, raised at De Pere's annual Redbird Rally.
Bradford thanked the community for its support of the program, and says other districts around Wisconsin are starting to follow De Pere's example.
"We've worked with other districts that have inquired about the process, and there is, there's a lot of behind the scenes that has to go into it.," he said.
Bradford says if Oakley is successful at Foxview, the district hopes to have a therapy dog in all six of its buildings down the line.
