Therapy animal handling -- Policy

(1) As used in this section: (a) "Animal-assisted intervention" means an intervention designed to promote improvement in an individual's physical, social, emotional, or cognitive functioning through interactions with a specially trained animal. (b) "Local education agency" means a school district or charter school. (c) (i) "Therapy animal" means an animal that: (A) provides affection and comfort to an individual for emotional support; (B) is accompanied by a therapy animal handler; and (C) is trained to provide animal-assisted intervention. (ii) "Therapy animal" does not include a service animal or support animal as those terms are defined in Section 26B-6-801. (d) "Therapy animal handler" means an individual who is trained to handle a therapy animal for animal-assisted interventions. (2) (a) If a school within a local education agency provides animal-assisted interventions through therapy animals, the local education agency shall adopt a policy for proper handling of a therapy animal on school grounds. (b) The policy described in Subsection (2)(a) shall include: (i) local or national certification or registration requirements for a therapy animal and therapy animal handler; (ii) guidelines for when a therapy animal and therapy animal handler are allowed on school grounds; (iii) notice requirements for parents, students, and school faculty and staff regarding the use of a therapy animal on school grounds; and (iv) guidelines to prevent students and staff who have an animal allergy or are uncomfortable around animals from interacting with a therapy animal on school grounds. (3) This section does not require a school to allow the use of a therapy animal.