by Connor Martin ‘13

It’s always fun to take a break from the monotony of the daily school routine, and that often comes in the form of a day off from school or a specially-themed day. Now, MCPS administrators have decided to add a new in-school holiday.

This month, MCPS is implementing a pilot program throughout the county that will allow students to bring their pets to school. A total of 10 schools will participate. Sherwood was chosen as one of the locations that will participate, and if successful, the program will return next year.

Students will be allowed to bring their pets to school for one day, and for Sherwood, that day is December 21. Most pets are welcome, but there are a few exceptions. Snakes, spiders and all potentially lethal pets will not come to school. However, dogs, cats, rodents (with the exception of sewer rats) and birds are allowed.

Pet lovers throughout Sherwood are ecstatic about the upcoming pet day. “People love pets  and everyone is just happier [with animals around],” said senior Megan Lim, who plans on bringing her Shih Tzu, Sadie, to school.

Other students are not so happy about the new day. “I’m allergic to cats and dogs, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Do I skip school that day?” asked senior Madeline Van Cott. MCPS administrators anticipated this potential problem, and came up with the perfect solution. On the new “Bring Your Pet to School Day,” students who have pet allergies will be locked into the auxiliary gym, which will permit them to spend the entire seven-hour school day safe from the animals. They will have absolutely no contact with the rest of the school for the entire day, including lunch. This also means those students will not have access to any of their teachers, classes or any of the bathrooms.

Some of the pilot programs have already occurred, and the results are very promising, according to Cassandra Milton, a seventh grader from Rocky Hill Middle School, who was pleased with how the day went. “The animals were so cute, and I loved seeing them all over the school. But the halls were pretty smelly, I’ve never seen so much dog poop,” she explained, “That said, it was definitely worth it.”

Liam Carr, a freshman from Quince Orchard, was excited to bring his frog to school at first, but that later changed. “It was terrible. Frogger jumped out of his box, and then went hopping across all the heavy hallway traffic! I never found him again.”

Sherwood is one of three schools in the pilot program that has not yet held the special day.