Posted on 05/14/2008 5:08:52 AM PDT by SJackson
A St. Cloud State University student in a teacher-training program at Technical High School left the school in late April because he says he feared for the safety of his service dog.
The school district calls it a misunderstanding, and officials there say they hoped Tyler Hurd, a 23-year-old junior from Mahtomedi who aspires to teach special education, would continue his training in the district.
Hurd said a student threatened to kill his service dog named Emmitt. The black lab is trained to protect Hurd when he has seizures.
The seizures, which can occur weekly, are from a childhood injury.
The dog has a pouch on his side that assists those who stop to help Hurd.
Hurd said he was unable to finish his 50 hours of field training at Tech. The university waived the remaining 10 hours, he said. He plans to do his student teaching outside a high school setting.
“We came up with a solution because I felt threatened by it," Hurd said.
The school district and university are working to make sure a similar situation doesn't happen.
Kate Steffens, dean of the college of education at St. Cloud State, and Tech assistant principal Lori Lockhart met Thursday.
The threat came from a Somali student who is Muslim, according to Hurd, St. Cloud State and school district officials.
The Muslim faith, which is the dominant faith of Somali immigrants, forbids the touching of dogs.
Hurd trained at Talahi Community School and Tech. He said his experience at Talahi was good. The Somali students there warmed to the dog and eventually petted him using paper to keep their hands off his fur, Hurd said.
Things didn't go as well at Tech, Hurd said. Students there taunted his dog, and he finally felt he had to leave after he was told a student made a threat. Hurd met with Lockhart but said he did not feel comfortable continuing.
Julia Espe, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for St. Cloud school district, said the school needed to do a better job communicating.
“I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Espe said.
Espe said the school's investigation determined the student did not make a direct threat.
“We certainly welcome (Hurd) in our district, and we hope we can get this all resolved so he feels welcome and his dog is welcome," Espe said.
St. Cloud State places about 1,000 students in 240 schools to help prepare them for careers in education.
In St. Cloud school district, 330 are in the field training program Hurd was in and 94 are in student teaching.
Steffens said it is important to respect different cultures and the rights of disabled students.
“I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse," Steffens said.
Steffens called Hurd a good student and committed young man.
Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication.
“I'm not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here," Loch said.
Sadly,however,it does not forbid the "touching" of young girls.Or goats.
Immigrants should adapt to their new country, the country shouldnt adapt to immigrants. If you don’t like dogs go back to your hellhole. Immigrants who make threats should be deported immediately.
It’s not a big problem but I do wish the location of these stories would be in the article somewhere. I have no idea where St Cloud state University is,since it says it’s a state university I assume it is in the USA. Sounds like another bullshite diversity story where Americans are suppose to bend over backwards to kiss the arse of a damn mooslim to make him feel at home. I notice the school buttlicker said they had not found evidence of a direct threat. I guess we are suppose to think the guy just imagined it. Disgraceful.
It’s obvious that the Somali student is disabled; too few working brain cells. Therefore he should be returned to his country of origin as defective.
We? Who's this "We"?....You mean William Jefferson Blythe Clinton.......
I consider my dog to be part of the family.
She watches out for the grandkids, and keeps grandma protected. ( Also keeps grandma busy with daily walks).
If someone threatened my dog, well I live in Florida, where the law’s pretty clear on how you may respond to threats against your life or your families.
I’m sure the jury would understand my argument.
I’m pretty tired of people telling me how I have to respect their religion, when they have respect for no other religion. If you don’t like American culture, please move to a country wher you like the culture.
Well, that’s too bad. I’ve always enjoyed him being the resident wiseguy around here among the established. The Lord gave him a lot of talent.
WHat did Laz do to get put out of the sandbox?...........
“Kill Muzzies, not dogs”, thats my new motto!
Or perhaps he bought a bottle of liquor on a trip, and wanted to take a cab home from the airport.
If he does it again, I hope it's on an airplane. Let him cool his heels awhile.
I think Espe is the one who needs to learn about communication.
Julia Espe, Executive Director, Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (320) 253-9333 x-1024 julia.espe@isd742.org
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Seriously though, this PC crap is how Europe was lost.
Already Posted:
So what?
I guess so. Anywhere outside of the multicultural hyper-protectionist dreamworld these students are used to.
I’m not so sure that it’s “whine and whimper” out of the muzzies so much as it is intimidation and threats.
Think about it. A “diversity coordinator” is going to have nuts about the size of raisins.
I'm curious as to where this Somali student did his Madrassah studies. Specifically, if it was within the US. Sounds to me like this prior "education" was very effective for this young student, and his prior classmates probably as well.
The word needs to be spread - Muslims have no intention of becoming part of the countries that they invade. They intend to make those countries Muslim countries.
Minnesota, twin cities area. They had an issue a year or so ago with Somali cabbies refusing to allow service dogs in their cabs. Also passenger with alcohol.
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