DICKINSON — In schools across the United States, a growing trend of students identifying themselves with the "fursona" of cats, dogs, ponies and more. As a result, school boards and social media have spawned the subject into a hot button conversation and widespread rumors.
Rumors have now begun circulating in Dickinson and other Western Edge communities that have sparked more than one phone call to The Dickinson Press with questions on whether the school district has, or will be, installing litter boxes in its restrooms.
As part of this fact checking article, we reached out to Dickinson Public Schools to shed light on a growing rumor alleging that some unique furry protocols are coming to a school near you.
In a phone conversation with The Dickinson Press, Superintendent Marcus Lewton denied that Dickinson Public Schools has or will be installing any litter boxes in its restrooms.
“... We have dress up days and kids bring stuffed animals to school. But as far as as I know, I haven’t (heard anything). I was in every school today,” Lewton said Thursday. “I was in almost every school yesterday and I think you know that I am in schools a lot. And I guess I’ve never seen anybody dressed up.”
To put the rumors to rest, Lewton encouraged parents and community members to be mindful of the information they are hearing and spreading to others.
“... We have too much time to worry about things... And so, that’s causing all this anxiety and decrease in mental health,” he added.
According to furscience.com , the term furry is defined as a “diverse community of fans, writers, gamers and role players,” who come up with an anthropomorphized animal character that they identify with and can function as an avatar within the community. Though furries are not new, the issue of students identifying as these animals at school has attracted mainstream attention.
“Some furries wear elaborate costumes or paraphernalia such as animal ears or tails, or represent themselves as anthropomorphic animals in online communities such as Second Life,” the website states.
In a New York Times article published on Jan. 23, a Michigan school superintendent dispelled the rumor after a comment resurfaced from a school board member that the school district made accommodation for furries by installing litter boxes in its restrooms.
The flurries of furries has reached North Dakota, with some school districts in Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo issuing statements to debunk the kitty litter rumors, as detailed in a Forum article by C.S. Hagen on April 4.
Lewton noted that each school within the Dickinson Public Schools district has its own handbook that lays out dress code. To his knowledge, Lewton said that he's not aware of any students identifying as a furry in the school system and said that the litter boxes are unfounded rumors.
“My response to that would be one of the things that teachers have found recently that they’ve really tried to improve upon is in our language arts classes, (and) other classes too, is… making sure that students understand author’s point of view, author’s bias, credible sources,” Lewton said. “When I was the middle school principal, our language arts teacher said we have to do this because there is so much media and news out there that doesn’t tell the whole story or the truth. And so, we’ve been working on that to make sure that our kids are good citizens and that they can identify author’s bias or credible sources.”