Leon, our furry friend, and his whereabouts

As many of you may have noticed, our beloved furry friend has recently been missing for the past few weeks.  Students have been wondering where he went and if he’s coming back. Read on to find out the answers to your questions! 

The board of Plymouth-Canton Schools found out that Leon was in the building of West, since the board was not notified about Leon, he had to leave the school. Service animals or therapy dogs are not allowed in Plymouth Canton, but the school board has recently talked about allowing animals into schools. On April 26th, the school board had a meeting to discuss the policy on animals. 

Mr. Wooster, the owner of Leon, speaks his words on this situation, “I was sad when he couldn’t come anymore, a little frustrated, but we can work something out in the meantime, and policy is policy,”. Staff and students are all frustrated but still patient, Mr. Wooster says, “Students [have been] asking all the time about Leon and what’s going on and have been very patient and understanding that this is a process that takes time and hopefully in the future it will be in everyone’s favor, and we’ll be seeing him running around in the halls,” we all hope he can come in again soon!

Students are eager to know when he’s coming back. We interviewed an 8th grader, Gwen Boland, who interacted with Leon before. She said, “Yeah, he [Leon] made me happy.” She misses Leon just as much as everyone else, “… I do [miss him], it was sad seeing his empty bed in the classroom.” Many students relied on Leon for support or just for comfort, “Leon made me want to come to class,” Gwen also said. 

The school board will have another meeting on May 10th to officially decide if service/therapy animals will be allowed. We all hope our pawular friend will come back soon!