Photo Courtesy of Washington School District Social Media

At the most recent Washington School Board meeting, district officials made plans to add another member to their staff. This one will have four legs. Since fall of 2016, Coral, a licensed therapy dog could be seen in the hallways of Lincoln Elementary School, helping students and staff with positive reinforcement and deescalation. Coral, a golden retriever who started her career in education at Mid-Prairie schools in 2015, has reached the age of retirement at nine years old, and the district moved forward last week with plans to bring another licensed dog into the building to aid staff. This week, Washington School Board President Eric Turner talked with KCII news about the dynamic that Coral has with students and why it’s important to continue this position within Lincoln and the district. He said, “The dogs are helpful just in terms of helping emotions with certain students, whether that be something they are struggling with for anxiety, maybe behaviors, and the dog is trained in helping to deescalate some of those emotions and has been very effective. We have one at each building.”

While Coral’s active tenure at the building ended with a retirement party last May, she still makes appearances “subbing” at the building from time to time. Already in the district are therapy dogs Holly at Washington high school, Athena at the Middle School and Rosie at Stewart Elementary. Athena, joined the Middle School in the spring of 2022 at a cost of $4,000 which included the purchase of the animal, boarding and training and $75 for each additional training session. The plan is for the new therapy dog to be in service at Lincoln by the end of the school year.