By Dave Aeikens • daeikens@stcloudtimes.com • May 12, 2008
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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.
In your voice
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VoicesInTheHall wrote:
Replying to slapnutz:
Replying to SaintWEB:
ALL MUSLIMS need to be removed from our country. They need to be prevented from building their mosques on our land. The Constitutional Framers did not intend for Freedom of religion to include all sorts of wack job retards like Islam, Buddhists, Mormons, Satan Worshippers, or Televangelists. The intent was that the government would not establish a church like was done in England.
AMEN
Praise the Great Spirit!!
5/18/2008 2:43:26 PM
ALL MUSLIMS need to be removed from our country. They need to be prevented from building their mosques on our land. The Constitutional Framers did not intend for Freedom of religion to include all sorts of wack job retards like Islam, Buddhists, Mormons, Satan Worshippers, or Televangelists. The intent was that the government would not establish a church like was done in
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VoicesInTheHall wrote:
"So, now, are we going to also accept female genital mutilation? How about requireing 4 witnesses to prove rape? Are we going to accept ALL of the Muslim "values"? I say NO."
Where, robscottw, has anyone moved to change any laws to make these things happen. Seems we move to absurdity in order to make fear. Are you afraid?
5/18/2008 2:38:40 PM"So, now, are we going to also accept female genital mutilation? How about requireing 4 witnesses to prove rape? Are we going to accept ALL of the Muslim "values"? I say NO."Where, robscottw, has anyone moved to change any laws to make these things happen. Seems we move to absurdity in order to make fear. Are you afraid?
VoicesInTheHall
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VoicesInTheHall wrote:
"The Constitutional Framers did not intend for Freedom of religion to include all sorts of wack job retards like Islam, Buddhists, Mormons, Satan Worshippers, or Televangelists. The intent was that the government would not establish a church like was done in England."
SaintWEB, I think you wander through the dark alleys of ignorance on the matter of what should be allowed as religion in this Country. The Framers left the matter of Religion up to the individuals rather than popular opinion or government to decide.
Perhaps you should first try to find and read the words of the First Amendment.
5/18/2008 2:35:15 PM"The Constitutional Framers did not intend for Freedom of religion to include all sorts of wack job retards like Islam, Buddhists, Mormons, Satan Worshippers, or Televangelists. The intent was that the government would not establish a church like was done in England."
SaintWEB, I think you wander through the dark alleys of ignorance on the matter of what should be allowed as religion in this Country. The Framers left the matter of Religion up to the individuals rather than popular opinion or government to decide.
Perhaps you should first try to find and read the words of the First Amendment.
VoicesInTheHall
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justbehuman wrote:
Outrageous behavior by Muslims forces a student with siezures to leave school for fear his service dog will be killed.
Just look at all the deceptive horse manure the authorities come up with:
�I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Espe said. (Either side?)
�I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse," Steffens said. (Taunting and threatening a service dog?)
The school district calls it a misunderstanding (what exactly was the misunderstanding?)
Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator (!) for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication (what was the nature of the miscommunication? Nobody explained to them they shouldn't taunt or threaten to kill a service dog?)
�I'm not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here," Loch said. ("the breakdown" is in your addled brains)
5/18/2008 9:35:47 AM Outrageous behavior by Muslims forces a student with siezures to leave school for fear his service dog will be killed.
Just look at all the deceptive horse manure the authorities come up with:
�I think it was a misunderstanding where we didn't really prepare either side for possible implications," Espe said. (Either side?)
�I think this is part of the growth process when we become more diverse," Steffens said. (Taunting and threatening a service dog?)
The school district calls it a misunderstanding (what exactly was the misunderstanding?)
Gary Loch, who is the diversity coordinator (!) for the district, said the situation was an unfortunate case of miscommunication (what was the nature of the miscommunication? Nobody explained to them they shouldn't taunt or threaten to kill a service dog?)
�I'm not quite sure where the breakdown comes into play here," Loch said. ("the breakdown" is in your addled brains) justbehuman
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slapnutz wrote:
Replying to SaintWEB:
ALL MUSLIMS need to be removed from our country. They need to be prevented from building their mosques on our land. The Constitutional Framers did not intend for Freedom of religion to include all sorts of wack job retards like Islam, Buddhists, Mormons, Satan Worshippers, or Televangelists. The intent was that the government would not establish a church like was done in England.
AMEN
I don't think the kid who said he wanted to kill his dog should get off without punishment. This is a terroristic threat. I believe he should get at least a day suspension for this.
You ask why the student making the threat wasn't suspended? You know the answer to that. The student who made a threat was not caucasian
IMwithSTUPID wrote:
the problem here is the poor young man who is acheiving his dream while overcoming REAL adversity (not just percieved adversity) looks to much like a regular white dude, and thus is not afforded extra protection under our laws
Free: Haven't you noticed? If someone does something bad, and they happen to be Somalian or Muslim, then their action was dictated by their faith or ethnicity. If a Christian does something bad, it's despite their faith or they seek forgiveness. The only time we lump Christianity into everything, is when we want to use it to define what it means to be "Good" and "Moral"...only Christians can define what those two words mean.
A kid threatened a dog. Somalian Muslims in St. Cloud have spoken out against it. Hurd himself said it wasn't about the Muslim faith. Yet people in this community chomp at the bit to find reasons not to like Muslims. Perhaps THAT is the reason for the sate of our Nation now.
i collect a article related to somali,immigrant, and minority aroud and inside st,cloud area.
ReplyDeletelet me know what you think bro