"We welcome anything that will assist our students to access the curriculum"...Baker Middle School, Damascus

Gazette:  Service dog brings security and friendship

Canine can sense seizures in Gaithersburg girl

Michelle Brown was apprehensive when her parents talked to her about getting a canine assistant to help her in school. But Sylvia, a golden retriever and Labrador retriever mix, has changed her life, the 13-year-old said...

..."She has changed my life because it makes it easier for me to go to school — and know that everybody likes me a lot more and they don't pay attention to my disability as much," said Michelle...

...Dana Tofig, spokesman for Montgomery County Public Schools, said he is not aware of any other service dogs being used one-on-one in the school system...

...Sylvia [service dog] is known among teachers and students at John T. Baker Middle School in Damascus, where Michelle is an eighth-grader...

..."We welcome anything that will assist our students to access the curriculum," said Principal Louise Worthington...