 The Brainerd Public School District has always allowed their students and staff to have service animals if they are needed, but at the last school board meeting the district officially passed a formal policy on service animals. The policy complies with federal law stating that dogs and miniature horses can be used as service animals. In order for a student or staff member to have the service animal, a person must have a disability and the animal must be trained to perform a task in response to the disability. Brainerd currently has two students using service dogs. We go through some pretty intensive planning of how we'll integrate that service animal and and make sure all this running says we do we do look to accommodate any maybe an individual who might have a fear of a dog or some allergies, but at this point the two we have are incredible. The Brainerd School District decided to pass the policy as more community members are now using their facilities. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.