RICHMOND --A golden retriever-Labrador mix named Calder acts as 9-year-old Matt Hoioos' hands.
Disabled by a disease called x-linked hydrocephalus, Matt is in a wheelchair.
Calder is a service dog, professionally trained to open and close doors for him, turn lights on and off, and pick up things Matt drops on the floor.
But Calder isn't allowed to accompany Matt to special-education classes at Margaret Brent Elementary School, because the Stafford County school system says the dog isn't necessary for Matt's education, and because the school system says they aren't "public entities" as defined in the Virginians with Disabilities Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act.
So Matt's parents went to Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania, and yesterday the House Health, Welfare and Institutions committee unanimously passed a bill Cole introduced that would require schools to comply with the disabilities act, including allowing service dogs like Calder.
Cole's bill adds just four words to the state code--that "public entities including schools" are included in the list of public places where disabled people must be accommodated under the law. That code section already provides that service dogs, like Matt's, are allowed in those public places.
Valerie Cottongim, spokeswoman for Stafford County schools, said school principals must give permission for a service dog. She said one county student does have a service dog at school.
Stafford School Board policy prohibits animals--even service animals--on school property without the permission of the principal. Those who want to bring an animal to school go through an application process, and principals consider factors including whether the animal is required for a student to receive benefit from a special-education program, whether the animal will be used as a teaching strategy to supplement the curriculum, and whether the animal will be used as a treatment following a traumatic event.
Tom and Sharon Hoioos, Matt's parents, came to Richmond with their son and his dog for the committee hearing. They said they're pushing the issue not just for Matt, but for other disabled people as well--they've heard of other disabled children in Stafford schools, and in other localities, having similar problems. The right of a disabled person to keep a service dog with them, the Hoioos' said, shouldn't be subject to the interpretation of local officials.
The Hoioos' disagreement with Stafford schools began after they got Calder in late 2006. They tried to attend a band concert in which two of their other children were performing, at North Stafford High School, and were told the dog couldn't come in with them.
After a 45-minute talk with school officials, Tom Hoioos said, they were allowed in, if they sat in the back, and they were told they weren't to expect that to set a precedent.
Since then, they've been allowed to bring Calder to some school events, like concerts and sporting events, but have always been told that permission is at the discretion of school officials. The Hoiooses believe Matt's service dog isn't a discretionary permission, it's a right under law. After all, school officials come and go, and the next one might ban Calder again.
"Practices can change," Tom Hoioos said. "We kind of live in fear they will kick us out. We're not protected."
More importantly to the Hoiooses, though, Calder is not allowed at Matt's school. School officials have told them, Tom Hoioos said, that Calder doesn't provide Matt an educational benefit, and that a human can do for Matt the things that Calder does.
But that was part of the point of getting Calder in the first place, Tom Hoioos said.
"If we always do everything for him, that doesn't build his independence," he said.
Calder is a professionally trained service dog, as defined by the federal and state disabilities acts, the Hoioos said. They got him from a group called Canine Companions for Independence, and spent two weeks of intensive training with him in Long Island before they brought him home. He may be Matt's friend, but he is "a piece of adaptive equipment," Tom Hoioos said, and as such should not be separated from Matt.
The Hoioos said having the dog has been "a wonderful experience." When Calder is with him, they said, Matt talks more, he waves at people, he makes eye contact. "This dog has changed Matt's life," Sharon Hoioos said.
Cottongim couldn't discuss the Hoioos' case individually, but she did say the school district has concerns about Cole's bill, because declaring schools to be public entities could have unintended consequences. "The only thing we would be concerned about with House Bill 214 is how making public schools a public accommodation would impact areas other than students with disabilities," Cottongim said.
For instance, she wondered whether the bill would force schools to allow anybody to use restrooms or cafeterias.
"We would hope that Delegate Cole has taken a good look at those sorts of impacts" on public schools, she said.
Cole's bill will now go before the full House of Delegates, likely next week, and if it passes there, on to the Senate.
Reporters Jeff Branscome and Kelly Hannon contributed to this story. Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362