RICHMOND, Va. — A 13-year-old boy and his father successfully advocated for a new Virginia law that allows parents of students with disabilities to serve as their child's service dog handler inside public schools.
The legislation unanimously passed both chambers of the state legislature and was signed by the governor last week. It goes into effect on July 1.
"With the passage of this law, it ensures that families will be able to have access that they need for their child’s service dog," said Matt Kreitz.
When CBS 6 first met Charlie Kreitz in November, he wanted his service dog, Wendy, to be able to attend middle school with him in Hanover County. Charlie Kreitz has autism and a panic disorder, and he previously shared that Wendy helps free him from severe panic attacks.
"It’s really just melting away the stress," Charlie Kreitz said.
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Hanover County Public Schools welcomed Wendy into the school setting with Charlie Kreitz, but the district did not support a request from his mother, Angie Kreitz, to be the dog's third-party handler at school.
That meant Charlie Kreitz could not bring Wendy to school. The nonprofit that provided the dog, Canine Companions, stated that one of the dog's approved facilitators — his parents, Matt and Angie Kreitz — must accompany Wendy and Charlie Kreitz at all times while in public.
Matt Kreitz contacted his local state delegate, Buddy Fowler (R-Hanover), who worked with the family to craft a bill to ensure state law says a parent can be a member of a three-unit service dog team.
"For a number of years, this situation with a three-unit service dog team has been able to be applied in a lot of different locations, but we found that in some localities the localities did not want to include a parent as part of the three-unit service dog team," Fowler said.
Matt Asip with the Virginia Council of Educators of Special Education spoke in opposition to the bill, as did a member of Henrico County Public Schools and the Virginia School Board Association.
"The presence of the service animal or a person in the schools must be left to the autonomy of schools to make reasonable decisions that can be later be appealed and followed through a process, but to restrict that would be a big burden on localities to have control of their school buildings as principals and administrators," Asip said.
Despite the opposition, the Kreitz family's efforts literally changed state law.
"We are excited that we are paving the way for families that will come behind us, we hope that they will not have similar issues in the future," Matt Kreitz said.
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