Since 2007, Salt Lake City School District’s CTC program has offered classes in which high school students learn about and train guide dogs for the blind. Recently, it was announced that these classes will no longer be available after the 2025-26 school year comes to an end.
The reason for the removal of the program was articulated in an email to Anna Blackmon, the teacher of the course. The email read: “The Guide Dog and Small Companion courses do not align with […] workforce expectations in a way that allows us to continue offering them.”
The classes are a popular elective for many students interested in animal science and have had high enrollment rates for years, including many students interested in taking the class this coming school year. But the district has been making shifts towards increased importance on CTC certificates, and the fact that the guide dog class does not offer the chance at earning a pathway certification may have been linked to the decision to cut the class, according to Blackmon.
In the wake of this news, many concerns have come from students, parents and teachers on how to proceed without the classes as options. Among them are worries that the elimination of these classes has the potential to dissuade certain students from enrolling in the SLC School District during a time when enrollment numbers are already dipping significantly.
“I also know of several students who specifically have chosen to attend SLCSD because of this program. Eliminating this program removes any and all options for students interested in [the animal science] career path and provides students with more reasoning to attend schools outside our district,” Blackmon said.
Many are also concerned that losing these classes will remove valuable opportunities for students to learn responsibility and life skills. These classes require a 24-hour commitment to caring for the animals for an entire year. Blackmon believes this gives students a chance to learn organizational skills and take care of a living thing with the safety net of a teacher and school.
“That’s what students like about it; it teaches them responsibility and how to communicate,” Highland senior and guide dog class member Alex Scholl said.
One of the other main concerns Blackmon has with this decision is that it alienates those of different abilities and closes a door for students seeking companions for the hard years of high school.
These classes are specifically in place to aid in providing guide dogs for blind or visually impaired individuals, something that can change lives for the better. And having students be a part of this experience aids in creating a community of empathy and understanding for other and places and emphasis on accommodations and support for people of all abilities, Blackmon said, while also offering students the opportunity for valuable friendships and companions for some of the hardest years of their adolescence.
“I have been told by many students that this program literally changed their lives, and that they would not be here without it as part of their high school career. This program is what kept many of them going through some of the most difficult years of a teenager’s life,” Blackmon said.
Blackmon reached out to the district in the hopes of convincing them to simply alter the classes curriculum to fit with a certification pathway, instead of getting rid of the classes completely. But all these efforts seem unlikely to sway the district’s decisions.
The final roadblock for those involved in these programs comes from the lack of communication with parents and students before the decisions was made. Scholl learned of the program’s elimination after having made plans for training puppies that were molded around the school curriculum.
With the way the program is set up, a student will take home a trainer puppy for six months, and once they have proven that they can handle the responsibility they will be given another puppy to train for a year. For student who got their puppy at the beginning of the school year, they will simply hand in their puppy when summer comes and end their time with the class. But for those who got their dogs near the middle of the year, the loss of the class presents unique issues with transfer of training responsibility and support systems.
“It’s very frustrating for people who wanted to start a puppy this year going into next year, suddenly saying that they have to go be a part of the Salt Lake club,” Scholl said.
The Salt Lake club is the only other option for those under eighteen training guide dog puppies, and it offers significantly less support than the class does and requires more involvement from parents, something that isn’t possible for some families. This has left many students stuck between transferring their dogs to other trainers and figuring out how to continue in a program that isn’t built around their success.
With the loss of the guide dog classes at Highland comes many emotions, fears and concerns by students. Blackmon will finish the school year but is sad for the loss of the program.
“I am heartbroken for my students and for the community,” Blackmon said.
