At Karen Storey’s retirement celebration from the Brighton Area Schools on Monday, a Congressional tribute from U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin was presented to commemorate her efforts that led to the district becoming the first in Michigan with a therapy dog in all of its buildings, and which serves as a model and resource for similar programs across the nation.
Storey noticed how students reacted to the service dog who escorted a teacher with Parkinson’s disease. Even though the dog was working and not allowed to interact with the kids, Storey saw the spontaneous connection kids had with the dog.
Storey, a middle school special education teacher, started researching the benefits of therapy dogs in schools.
She approached then-Superintendent Greg Gray with a proposal to add a therapy dog to the building. The program grew into the BAS Pack of Dogs program, which has been in service for 15 years.
In addition to serving all of the students in the Brighton Area Schools district, the Pack of Dogs leaps into service out-of-district when needed. All 13 canines in the program and their handlers traveled 100 miles a day to and from Oxford after the deadly school shooting in November 2021; the Pack of Dogs also responded after the shootings at Michigan State University in February of this year.
Storey, who grew up in Brighton and attended BAS, has four sons who attend or graduated from Brighton Area Schools; her husband, Scott, also works for the district as a behavioral management specialist.
You can read the Congressional tribute by clicking here.
PHOTO: BAS Pack of Dogs founder Karen Storey with Bronx (left) and Chevy. Photo courtesy of Karen Storey.
