TYRONE — Whenever a therapy dog visits the Tyrone Area School District, it has positive effects on student and adult mental health, according to Superintendent Leslie Estep.

That’s why the school board of directors is considering a new policy to allow therapy dogs on district property upon request, Estep said, adding Tyrone Area currently has a contracted service provider who brings her therapy dog to the district twice a week.

Other certified therapy dog handlers who work for the district are interested in bringing their dogs in, Estep said.

The policy specifies that both the handler and the dog have to be certified, Estep said, noting both the interested employee and the dog have been trained.

The policy, which was approved for a first reading during the board’s combined work and regular session meeting Tuesday, states that therapy dogs are not service animals and sets guidelines to ensure the therapy dog does not pose a health or safety risk to any student, employee or other person at the district.

According to the policy, a written request to bring the dog into the school must be submitted to the superintendent along with proof of registration, veterinary documentation and insurance.

“It has been really successful,” Estep said of the service provider’s therapy dog visiting with students. “So if we look at expanding that, we wanted a policy to help govern how we do that.”

The current therapy dog that visits the district is a “beautiful” white golden retriever named Bailey, Curriculum and Instruction Director Kristen Pinter said.

Bailey has its own Tyrone Area School District staff identification badge, Technology Director Glen Drager said.

“Bailey is an official staff member as far as we’re concerned,” Drager jokingly said during the meeting.

Board treasurer Heidi Howard asked Estep whether therapy dogs are permitted into classrooms. Estep said students are generally pulled out of the classroom to visit Bailey and that currently only those students who work with the district’s occupational therapists have access to the dog.

Watching a student pet the dog and forget about the stressors that triggered an “emotional moment” in the classroom just minutes beforehand is “remarkable,” elementary school Principal Kristin Musselman said.

“A student who, three minutes ago, was in a full meltdown for whatever reason just sits and pets a dog or brushes a dog and then suddenly all of those things seem to melt away. They’re calm and they’re ready to talk,” Musselman said.

Right now, the district doesn’t have all of the details worked out as far as where the therapy dogs will be housed throughout the school day, Estep said.

“We don’t have all of that in place yet, but that’s what we’ll work on here as this school year gets going,” Estep said, noting the board will have to approve the policy for a second reading before it becomes official.

During the meeting Tuesday, the board also approved a $95,750 quote from Combustion Service & Equipment for two domestic hot water heaters for the elementary school.

The cost includes installation and any necessary repair work, according to the meeting’s agenda.

Estep said district officials aren’t sure how soon the heaters will be installed but are hopeful they’ll be in place for the 2025-26 school year.

Estep said the current hot water heaters are original to the building, which was built in 1999.

“They are just to the point of needing to be replaced and upgraded,” Estep said. “We just have had some maintenance issues with them in the last year or two and they are ready to be replaced.”

Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.