Charles City School Board introduced to Rocky

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City School District seems to be going to the dogs.

The Charles City Community School District Board of Education heard a little bit about that at Monday’s meeting.

Spanish teacher Jenae Noonan talked to the board about the Retrieving Freedom foster dog program and introduced Rocky, a two-year-old Labrador, who will be present at school on Fridays and some Mondays as part of his training to become a service dog for a veteran, a child with autism or an individual with diabetes.

Additionally, the school district issued a dog-related press release on Monday that the district and the Charles City Police Department are forming a new partnership to keep illegal and prescription drug abuse away from students and off campus by allowing officer Dario Gamino and Jordy — a recently acquired Dutch shepherd K-9 narcotics dog that started patrolling Charles City in September — to train in the evenings on school campuses to gain experience in the schools.

Regarding Rocky, Noonan has been working with him for a year, and said he is an asset in her classroom. She said that when students are learning Spanish it can be intimidating to try to speak the language out loud, and Rocky is a “non-judgmental listener.”

“He’s not going to make fun of them, he’s not going to make them feel bad for being wrong,” Noonan said. “Nothing can go wrong there.”

Retrieving Freedom Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Waverly, dedicated to training service dogs to help people. Chad Johnson, an assistant dog trainer with Retrieving Freedom, talked to the board about the program.

“We like to get the dogs into social environments as much as we can,” Johnson said. “Rocky is in training to be a service dog for either a veteran with PTSD or child with autism.”

He said that eight or nine school districts are currently participating in the program. The service dogs help improve the lives of the people they are placed with and help with specific chores and perform tasks associated with their training. They also offer companionship and unconditional love, Johnson said.

Noonan said that when she interviewed for a position at Charles City, she was asked questions about how she would make herself more involved in the community and how she could make an impact.

“It was a very natural reach for me to go to Retrieving Freedom and try to make that connection.” she said. “I’m getting my students to see how important volunteering is, and how disabilities are not necessarily something that you can always see.”

She said the mind of the teenager is often focused on “me-me-me,” and this gets them to think about others.

“There’s going to come a day when we have a service dog with a student,” she said, and added that it’s important for students to understand the difference between a service dog and a dog that’s a pet.

“I think this is a great idea and I think it will be really good for our students,” said director Josh Mack. “Mental health is a growing issue here, and this is an opportunity for us to do what we can and help this situation.”

In other business, the board heard a report Monday from varsity cross country coaches Ryan and Amanda Rahmiller, as well as from several cross country team members, regarding learning experiences from the team’s trip to Colorado this past summer.

Also on Monday, the board approved a request from Dan Caffray, juvenile court liaison/Project RISE, to begin an online fundraising campaign to support students with personal needs. An Idea list will be created on Amazon with items needed by students, and a buyer may purchase the items from the list for delivery to the school.

The board was also informed Monday that the Charles City Community Education Association, the Charles City Community School District Education Services Association/ISEA and the Charles City Community School District Education Services Association/ISEA each held recertification elections in October and a majority of the employees in each of the three unions voted to retain and recertify the ISEA as their exclusive bargaining representative.

In other action Monday, the board:

— Approved the first reading of an employee travel compensation change recommended by the policy committee. The recommended policy is that meal expense reimbursement should be reasonable for the location and nature of the event.

— Approved the resignation of Darren Bohlen, head girls track coach, effective Nov. 13.

— Approved the appointment of Brandon Schreiver Gates, maintenance HVAC specialist, at the wage of $20.33 per hour, starting Nov. 19.

— Approved the appointment of Sharon Stoll, assistant varsity girls basketball coach, at the salary of $3,330, starting Nov. 1.

— Approved the classified employee transfer of Carol Cole, part-time instructional assistant, to the new position of full-time instructional assistant/bus driver.

— Approved the application to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $4,586.99 for special education administrative costs associated with the River Hills consortium program for the 2019-20 school year.

— Approved the application to the School Budget Review Committee in the amount of $2,076.57 for special education administrative costs associated with Lied Center consortium program for the 2019-20 school year.