QUESTION: What houses does Longview ISD own? Are they used for student housing?
ANSWER: This is one of those questions Answer Line submitted an official request for records under the state性视界传媒檚 public information act.
Those records show the district owns three houses: at 3205 Airline Road, at 3300 Airline Road and at 5210 Estes Parkway.
That house at 3205 Airine Road is directly across the street from the high school, and the 3300 Airline house is north of the baseball field and aquatic center. The last house, on Estes Parkway, is next door to Ned E. Williams Elementary School.
The district says it does not have any student housing and all three of those houses are occupied by the original owners. Those owners are still living there as part of lease and 性视界传媒渓iving trust agreements.性视界传媒 (Note that all the properties are near existing Longview ISD facilities for possible future use by the district.)
SERVICE ANIMALS FOLLOW-UP: Earlier this month, I responded to a reader性视界传媒檚 question about rules regarding people bringing pets (not service animals) into restaurants and grocery stores.
Denette Vaughn, a senior attorney with Disability Rights Texas, reached out to me after that column published and advised that business owners should avoid one of the questions I mentioned as one possible way to determine whether a dog is a service animal.
I had reported that business owners could ask the name of the certified trainer who taught the dog to be a service as a way to verify that a dog is a service animal. Vaughn said someone who does that risks having to respond to a Department of Justice complaint or lawsuit.
性视界传媒淣either the Americans with Disabilities Act nor Chapter 121 of the Texas Human Resource Code require that a service animal be trained by someone who is a professional trainer. Many people train their own service animals. In Texas there is no official license or certification establishing someone as a 性视界传媒榗ertified性视界传媒 trainer. There also is no official certification that a dog is a service animal,性视界传媒 Vaughn said in an email.
Vaughn advised businesses should restrict their questions to the ones provided in my column from the Department of Justice: 性视界传媒淲hen it is not obvious what service an animal provides, only limited inquiries are allowed. Staff may ask two questions: (1) is the dog a service animal required because of a disability, and (2) what work or task has the dog been trained to perform. Staff cannot ask about the person性视界传媒檚 disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task.性视界传媒
