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AP laserphotoAaron Porter, tary School in which has beena fourth-grader at Jerome Prairie Elemen-Grants Pass pets Pepper Brown, a dog going to school here for 12 years. The doghas been madeschool.an honorary assistant principal at thej5By RUSSELL WORKINGGrants Pass Daily CourierGRANTS PASS (AP) — Drop by Jerome Prairie Elementary School, and they’re liable to tell you some shaggy dog stories.See, the assistant principal is this Pepper Brown, and you’ll usually find him sleeping under the secretary’s desk. Sometimes he lies there munching on vanilla wafers.The trouble is, his position hasn’t exactly been approved by the district school board. There is this minor complication: Pepper is a dog — a scruffy black mutt who just seems to like the education business.“No one ever told him he’s a dog,” says secretary Shirley Fischer.Every day for the past 12 years, students and teachers say, Pepper has crossed Redwood Highway and wandered up Jerome Prairie Road to the school. He started attending school around the time his owners, Kevin and Craig Brown, went there.“He was going over there before I was in school,” says Craig Brown, now a junior at Hidden Valley High School. “He just liked kids.”A picture of Pepper hangs in the office. He is on the Parent-Teacher Association’s mailing list. And he even made an appearance at the retirement party of former principal Dick Miller last year.The dog had outlasted the principal, and it seemed appropriate to pay his respects.Pepper is a creature of habit: showing up atlife for school official7:30 a.m., begging for scraps outside the cafeteria, strolling around the halls. That seems to sit well at Jerome Prairie, a school with a sense of tradition that celebrated its 115th anniversary this year.In fact, Pepper has been so predictable that he startled the school by altering his schedule this year. It seems the pooch is sitting in on fifth-grade classes, as if he has finally figured out that something goes on in the building between recess and cafeteria breaks.“Maybe he’s going through dog menopause,” Principal Vince Matt speculates.Fifth-grade teacher Carol Hix says she doesn’t mind a canine student.“He really isn’t any problem,” she says. “You don’t know he’s in the room.”Most students seem to study just fine with a dog underfoot. Pepper either dozes at the back of the class, or sits beneath the desks. But he doesn’t cotton to being shut out of the classroom.“Once he was outside the door whining like a mouse,” says student Josh Moore. “I forget who opened the door, but he came walking in.” Pepper has grown fond of the students. Heather Laugsand, a neighbor of Pepper’s, says he sometimes comes over to her house and even spends the night. He also occasionally drops in on fifth-grader Beth Sproul.“When my mom starts yelling at me, he growls at her,” she says. “So he’s real protective of kids.”Pepper knows where to find chow, even if he isa little slow to learn a lesson. Even after 12 years of hanging around, he still tries to sneak into the cafeteria from time to time. Just checking to see if the rule against dogs in eating establishments is still on the books, perhaps. The custodian has to toss him out, the kids say.Not every youngster says he likes a dog in school. Wayne Waier says, “I hate him I tried to get him out of the classroom once, and he tried to bite me.”Ron Meyer adds, “He did bite this one kid. The kid kept teasing the dog and jumping over him. So Pepper bit him.”Pepper sometimes has ridden the bus to school, kids from his neighborhood say. But his crossing the highway worries some people, even if he does know the safety rules. (“He looks both ways,” says student Katie Smith.)“I don’t know how he does it,” Brown says.A motorcycle once hit Pepper, Fischer says. He didn’t show up at the start of school, causing concern among students and staff. But after his wounds healed, he returned.“He’s out there when the kids are getting on the buses,” Matt says. “And when the buses go, he leaves.”Except, Matt says, for the days when Pepper decides he doesn’t like the weather. On hot days, the dog hangs around until Matt or Fischer leaves. He follows one of them out to the car and hops in.“He’s funny, Fischer says. “When you let him out, he kind of looks at you as if to say, ‘Thanks for the ride.’ ”
Newspaper Details
Roseburg New Review
Roseburg, Oregon, US
Wed, Dec 24, 1986
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
IL, USA 14 Dec 2020
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