SALISBURY — Before long, when a student or RSS campus has an emergent need for the calming presence of a therapy dog, the school system will have the solution.

Chief Student Support Officer Dr. Elizabeth Snyder informed the school board last week about a new plan to acquire a golden retriever that will serve a therapy dog for RSS.

“Therapy dogs in educational settings have gained a lot of traction over the years in primary schools, elementary schools, high schools, middle schools, universities, hospitals etc. to reduce the stress and anxiety that our students are seeing,” Snyder said. “There is a lot of research behind this.”

Snyder pointed to an Ed Week article talking about the benefits of therapy dogs that explains how students are carrying more stress these days and how animals in educational settings can reduce that stress. She also pointed to her own personal experience as an educator and administrator for a number of years and schools.

“I had the opportunity in 2014 to introduce therapy dogs and service dogs into Liberty Drive Elementary School (Thomasville),” Snyder said. “I will say that our program is focused specifically on therapy dogs. The difference is a service animal is for an individual person. A therapy dog is for everybody. There are different trainings that go in for a service animal being specific to an individual as opposed to the training that will go into a therapy dog that will walk in and be accessible to all students.”

During her presentation, Snyder shared a story about two students who finally engaged their reading curriculum once a therapy dog was present.

“This was one of the most powerful pictures I have taken in my career,” Snyder said referring to a photo shown at the school board meeting. “These two young men have since graduated and gone on to do great things but they would not read to their teacher. They refused to read to her …. But they agreed to read to the dog (Beau).”

The benefits to a therapy dog for the school system include serving as a reading buddy but also visiting special population classrooms.

Snyder showed another dog that she used in a non-verbal classroom, explaining that the students were able to have time with the dog which created a “calming mechanism” for students with severe emotional responses and behaviors.

“I have implemented these dogs in four of my schools during 14 years as a principal,” Snyder said. “I have seen the power of the pups and look forward to what this dog will offer Rowan-Salisbury.

“…We are looking forward to this. I have had too many dogs in too many schools to see the power of this. I have had everything from a Great Dane in a high school to a Newfoundland at a middle school.”

After looking locally, Snyder’s search turned outward. The school system found a golden retriever in Florida that was born on March 17. The dog will be arriving in Salisbury next month on May 17.

“We have a name for the dog already,” Snyder said. “It is Chapel for the superintendent’s love for Chapel Hill.”

Chapel will be owned by RSS but stay in Snyder’s custodial care when visiting classrooms on duty and in her custodial care off duty. He will begin the first year’s training of “obedience to sit and not eat everything in sight.”

In March 2026, Chapel will begin therapy dog training.

“A dog cannot go through certification until they are a year of age,” Snyder said. “So in March, we will begin that training and by fall of 2026, maybe sooner, Chapel will be certified and escorted into schools.”

There is a one-time cost of $3,900 for the dog. The puppy costs $3,500 and the spay/neuter procedure is listed at $400.

The total annual cost of the dog is $2,100. Broken down, that includes $300 for grooming, $350 for certification, $500 for yearly vaccines, $600 for food and $350 for insurance that will cover $1 million and $10,000 for medical coverage.

School Board Member Dr. Rebecca Childs approved acquiring the dog as it related to the school system’s stated goals.

“I love that it is tied to one of our priorities of supporting wellness for staff and students as well,” Childs said.

Superintendent Dr. Kelly Withers said the trial could open doors in the future.

“We want to try one first and see where we go with that,” Withers said. “This is not something we have had in our district previously. If it is successful and we see a need we would work with our attorneys to develop practices around what that might look like. Right now we are going to try and see how this goes.”

Withers indicated that since the process for obtaining the dog began, the school system had already experienced a couple of times where a therapy dog would have been helpful.

“Since Dr. Snyder has started this, we have already had a few situations where we said it would be nice if we had (a therapy dog),” Wither said. “Various things have happened on different campuses where we have seen emotional processing and talked about this being a great place for (the therapy dog.)”