CHERRY HILL TWP. -- It took several months of lobbying school officials before they decided they should allow junior Ben Shore to bring his service dog to school, while they worked to revise the policy that had previously prevented him.

Now, a mother of another child in the district says the school seems very willing to work with her about getting her son's service dog into a middle school with him.

It's something the family has wanted for several months, she said, but school officials did not seem very receptive at first.

"I think Ben getting this done opened up the door for us," said Debbie Martin.

Shore, 16, is on the autism spectrum and has a service dog to help him deal with panic attacks. He had argued to school officials that the district's service dog policy placed restrictions on service dogs that violated state and federal law, including requiring proof of formal training and banning them from buses, and told them that he was going to bring his dog to school anyway.

The board is currently considering revising that policy, but a draft policy still imposes a few conditions that service dog experts say are illegal.

Barbara Wilson, a district spokeswoman, said the school decided to allow Shore to bring his service dog "in advance of the adoption of the revised policy, as we work to be in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act."

On Thursday, the same day that Shore brought his dog to Cherry Hill High School East first time, Martin said she talked with a school official who was supportive of her son's service dog coming to school.

"They're receptive," she said.

Can anyone make their dog a service dog?

Her son, 12, is on the autism spectrum and has epilepsy. She did not want to use his name for this story because of the strong feelings the service dog issue has elicited in Cherry Hill.

She bought an English labrador, named Mercy, a year ago and had her trained by a professional trainer. Mercy has been working as a service dog for about four or five months, she said.

Martin said the work the dog performs is to stay by her son's side, help him feel safe and prevent him from eloping, a symptom of autism in which the person wanders off or bolts from a place. If he has a seizure, the dog is trained to stay by his side, and directions for what to do are in her service dog vest, Martin said.

The Americans with Disabilities Act defines a service animal as a dog that is individually trained to do work or a task for a person with a disability.

Martin said she talked to school officials several times during 2016 about the service dog, but said they didn't seem "receptive."

She said she told them last April that the family would be training a service dog. In September she talked to administrators again about bringing the dog, but they suggested waiting until he was settled into the school year. Later, when she inquired about the dog coming to school, she said she didn't get a straight answer.

On Jan. 24, she addressed the Board of Education, as did Ben Shore, about why her son needed the dog. The meeting itself was a perfect example, she said.

"He would normally run out of those situations," she said, but he felt comfortable there because he had Mercy.

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She also wanted to address the board about the "barriers" in its drafted, revised policy, including the requirement that a service dog owner get liability insurance for the dog. She estimated that may cost several thousand dollars a year.

"I have so many bills it's ridiculous," she said, mostly because her son had to be treated for 15 seizures in the last 18 months.

It's not clear what if anything the school will do to address the concerns of a family whose son has a life-threatening dog allergy.

Parker Misinkavitch, 5, does not attend either of the Cherry Hill schools where there may be service dogs, but his mother said he cannot ride a bus on a field trip where any dog has been recently. He has anaphylactic reactions, she said, which make it hard to breathe and require hospitalization.

The district has declined to discuss the specifics of the draft policy until it is acted on, which may be at the next meeting, Feb. 14.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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