There was a special guest at the Van-Far R-1 Board of Education meeting on Dec. 18.

At the meeting, members of the board were introduced to Rio, a trained therapy dog who could soon be roaming the halls of Van-Far.

Back in November, Leslie Dahl reached out to elementary principal Brian Hummel to discuss the possibility of volunteering her therapy dog Rio’s services to Van-Far. Hummel put her in touch with Sabrina Gilley, the elementary counselor, who reached out to Dahl the next day.

After learning more about Rio, Gilley reached out to Superintendent Natalie Gibson to see what the process for getting a therapy dog would look like.

“We have created a letter that would go home to parents for parental permission,” Gilley said. “I have requested different documents from Leslie about Rio’s training, so I have received those as well.”

The letter gives parents the option to opt in to the therapy dog services. Gilley added that if a parent changes their mind, they may do so. Information will be given out to families next quarter.

“Therapy dogs are becoming more common in schools,” Gilley said, explaining that therapy dogs have many different uses. “Some benefits they can help with are teaching children compassion, empathy, responsibility, respect and self-control.”

Rio was trained as a therapy dog for Dahl after she was involved in an accident. She passed an assessment through the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and has also earned the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen award.

“Last school year, we had a book author come in with a therapy dog, and it was one of the best days of school,” Gilley said. “This is an opportunity we have. It’s something that I think would be very beneficial for our kids.”

Gilley added that she did her own research on certified therapy dogs. She said the training and certifications would cost around $4,000.

“She’s got a lot of puppy left in her,” Dahl said. “We’ve trained her to be like this, so I feel like I’ve taken a lot of that puppy away from her, but this is what she’s meant to do.”

After meeting Rio and Dahl, the meeting continued with the recognition of the Van-Far football players who received all-district and all-state honors by high school principal Amy Newland.

In her report, Newland also said that following the Real Simulation, 94% of the students who took the survey afterwards said that they had a better understanding of what it takes to be a successful, independent adult.

Hummel thanked Jump-A-Roo’s and Trackside Auto for their donation of 60 coats, 60 pairs of socks, and 60 hats to keep kids warm this winter. He also mentioned that 229 students attended the Christmas From a Small Town Heart event on Dec. 13 in his report.

District Special Education Director Jennifer Huff reported that the child count was complete and matched on all platforms. In her report, she also acknowledged the work of Janna Craven, special education, who developed the finals schedule with accommodations for students at the high school.

A walkthrough of the school with a representative of MUSIC was led by District Maintenance Director Ryan Morris who reported that the buildings were found to be in good shape and few immediate improvements were needed as he prepared a task list for his maintenance team to tackle over winter break.

Morris also met with Gibson and Ryan Becker and Keegan Corrigan of Veregy to discuss some of the mechanical and drainage concerns. Gibson said in an email that she hopes those issues will be addressed on the April no-tax-increase bond issue.