Since its launch in 2023, East Aurora School District 131’s Paws program has grown into a powerful district wide initiative focused on supporting the whole child.
Through a strong and ongoing partnership with Healing Hearts, EA Paws began as a vision to bring certified comfort dogs into schools to enhance students’ emotional well-being.
As of January 2026, every school in East Aurora has an active EA PAWS team, which a school official calls “an incredible milestone that reflects our commitment to student support and positive school climate.”
The goal of EA Paws is to support students’ emotional well-being, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote a safe, welcoming learning environment through structured and supervised interactions with certified comfort dogs.
These interactions provide students with opportunities to build coping skills, regulate emotions, and develop positive connections within their school community. Whether supporting students during times of heightened stress, celebrating milestones, or simply offering a calm presence in the school day, EA Paws teams have become an integral part of the student… and staff experience.
The partnership with Healing Hearts has been essential to the program’s success. Healing Hearts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to training and certifying comfort dogs and their handlers to serve schools, hospitals, first responders, and community organizations.
Their rigorous training program ensures that each dog is temperament-tested, professionally trained, and paired with a dedicated staff handler. Beyond initial training, Healing Hearts provides ongoing guidance, certification standards, and continued professional development to ensure that each EA Paws team maintains the highest level of safety, structure, and effectiveness.
—East Aurora School District 131