MOUNT VERNON – Nova the police dog fulfills her mission at Mount Vernon schools daily by calming defiant students down and helping others turn their bad days into better ones.
Since January, patrolman Jeremiah Armstrong has brought Nova along on his regular duties as an officer from the Mount Vernon Police Department stationed at the school. Nova has not only charmed the students, but the staff as well, he said.
They patrol Mount Vernon Middle and High schools and the Knox County Career Center, which are basically on the same campus, he said.
“She's been a huge hit,” Armstrong said. “The kids can't get enough of her. The vast majority of kids just fall all over her. They love coming up and saying hi and petting her and getting some Nova attention.”
He wasn’t surprised by the students’ reactions, but the staff did surprise him a bit. He said Nova has been as popular with the teachers, staff and administration as she is with the students.
“She's just a tool to help bridge that gap between the students and myself,” he said.
The duo visits with students at lunch and in classrooms. Armstrong and Nova will pop into different classrooms to interrupt them for a moment or two for a visit before letting them get back to work.
Students who used to ignore him now are best friends because of the dog.
“That's been a big door-opener, just to be able to reach kids that normally wouldn't want anything to do with me,” Armstrong said. “Also, there's kids, there's been a dozen kids that say that the only reason they come to school is so that they can see Nova.”
Several incidents have happened with kids who were just having a bad day or some crisis who get a chance to spend a little bit of time with Nova.
Whether it was having her in the room, petting her or holding her in their laps, he’s seen many cases where a student’s behavior changes in a short amount of time, he said.
“And their focus isn't on ‘OK, I'm having a crappy day.’ Their focus changes to getting affection from Nova, and it just completely changes their attitude,” Armstrong said.
Normally in those situations, it would take a long process and time to get the students back into their classrooms. But Nova has shortened that timeframe, he said.
“If they're brought down to the counselor or the principal's office, we can get there, get them in a better place and be able to get them back into the classroom where they're able to learn a lot quicker. That's a huge advantage to having her,” he said.
The same holds true for students who become defiant with teachers, staff and the principal, Armstrong said.
Students whose bad days turn into defiance first with their teachers, then with the principal and staff, typically are sent home that day after a parent is called to get them.
In one case when Nova was still a puppy, he tried talking to a girl in that situation who ignored him.
“I said, ‘Well, if you'll talk with me, I'll let you hold Nova.’ And immediately she's like, ‘Yeah, heck yeah.’ And so I let her hold Nova and she talked to me and then the counselor,” he said. “And within a half an hour, they had her back in class.”
She got to hold Nova for a couple minutes and that completely changed her attitude, he said.
Another student has some behavioral issues and out of the blue will start to be defiant and cause issues, Armstrong said.
“We reward him if he's good for so many hours and then he gets to play with Nova for a little bit or he'll get to pet Nova for a short amount of time,” he said.
They also will set up a time where he can go down to the gym and throw the ball to her. That turned his behavior around and motivated him to start making better decisions, Armstrong said.
