EASTMAN, Ga. — Over the next few weeks, one Dodge County teacher, Anna Clements, will have summer school classes and she'll have her trusty sidekick along with her.
“They walk by my classroom and say, 'Is she here?'” Anna said.
In Room 107 at South Dodge Elementary, they had a new kid in class this year, Magnolia, the Emotional Support Goat.
“I've raised her since she was two days old,” Anna bragged.
Anna Clements has a farm and her day gig is teaching.
She says believe it or not, a goat can have a calming effect on kids.
"When they’re struggling with reading, she just sits and listens to them. She's an impartial person, she doesn't judge them if they're struggling," Anna explained.
This is Anna's 10th year teaching, but her first at South Dodge Elementary. Can you imagine that conversation when she went to her principal and said, "Hey, I've got an idea -- let’s bring a therapy goat to class"?
“And he was like, 'Really?' and I was like, 'She's a small goat, she's a Nigerian Dwarf, and she's extremely small for a Nigerian Dwarf,' and I was like, 'She wears a diaper, so you don't have to worry about anything on the ground,'" she described recalling the conversation.
There is nothing to worry about, unless it's vegetation or something that falls out of a notebook.
“If you drop paper on the ground, she will eat paper, so instead of 'The dog ate the homework,' the goat will eat the homework,” Anna admitted.
Despite a few flaws, Magnolia meshes well with everyone.
She's not an everyday treat -- she makes an appearance every other Friday.
“I even have a stuffed goat on my desk, and when she's not here, they'll grab that and love on her thinking it's her," Clements said holding up a stuffed animal.
So in this school, as little hands and little hoofs bond, Magnolia truly is the GOAT -- "the Greatest of All Time."
“You can ask my students all the time, 'Who is number one?' and they'll always say, 'Magnolia,'" Anna said with a smile.
Magnolia goes on field trips, too -- across campus to visit other classrooms.
She turns 1 in August and Clements says after summer school she will be back in the fall.