Judge says Chewey can go to school, too The small crowd that gathers in the parking lot of the Douglas County courthouse defies the November nip of the air and the wild winds that swirl around them. No one notices that the late afternoon sun is sinking slowly from sight or that cars are disappearing quickly from Tuscola’s idyllic streets. 
Reporters, cameramen and photographers are engrossed in a 6-year-old named Kaleb Drew, who bounces around them, sporting one of his favorite Iron Man t-shirts and an endless supply of energy. Onlookers are equally enthralled by Kaleb’s sidekick, a 2-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Chewey, who’s connected to the boy by a 5-foot red tether.
“Take a picture,” Kaleb requests. “Cheese!” His mom, Nichelle, was initially worried about how her son would react to the lights and cameras, but it appears that Kaleb has caught on to his family’s excitement.
Moments earlier, county judge Chris Freese decided the outcome of a year-long battle between the Drews and the Villa Grove Community Unit School District, located in Villa Grove, a small town near Champaign. Kaleb, a first-grader who has autism with speech and developmental delays, and Chewey, his trained service animal, would be allowed to attend school together despite the school’s protests.
Nichelle and her husband, Brad, concerned about Kaleb’s safety and difficulty at home and at school, first informed Villa Grove Elementary School last year of their decision to get an autism service animal. The school district objected to the plan, citing concerns for other students, and refused to let Kaleb take Chewey to school this past spring and summer [see “School bars autistic child and his service dog,” July 22].
The Nov. 10 decision means more than a continued education for Kaleb and Chewey — it’s also the first time the state’s law involving service animals has been challenged in court. Now that the pair has been allowed to go to school, they could set a precedent for other students with disabilities and their service dogs in Illinois.
“It has been emotional,” Nichelle tells a reporter after the ruling. “Just because we were seeing such improvement with Kaleb and such growth with Kaleb and Chewey as a team.
“We wanted it to continue, and for Kaleb to continue to experience life to the fullest. That’s what every parent wants for their child. As a parent of a child with autism, it’s something that I don’t experience very often. Now with Chewey, we’re able to do that.”
Moms know best when it comes to describing their children.“He’s obsessed with superheroes,” Nichelle says. “He smiles. He loves to be hugged. That’s Kaleb. He’s very energetic.”
As a kindergartner last year, Kaleb joined other students in a general education classroom. During the school day, he’d receive assistance from a one-on-one aide, as well as help from speech and occupational therapists. Outside of school, he’d also get extra speech therapy and visit other specialists.
But, Nichelle says, he wasn’t progressing.
Like many children with autism, Kaleb didn’t have a sense of danger. He didn’t like for his parents to hold his hand, so he’d sometimes
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