Two-minute impact
Texas school boards are required to take a vote by March 1 on how to implement Senate Bill 763, a new law permitting the employment of chaplains as school counselors. Chaplains typically provide religious services outside of a church.
School districts can take three courses of action regarding the bill:
- Hire chaplains to perform the duties of a school counselor
- Accept chaplains as volunteers
- Reject any use of chaplains
Under district policies, chaplains could already volunteer in DSISD schools. The board needed to decide if this should continue and whether chaplains may be hired—with or without counseling certifications—to provide mental health services.
“We are not, because of SB 763, planning to make changes to any of the ways in which people volunteer in our schools, which means chaplains are still welcome to be a volunteer in our district, they just may not be serving in a chaplaincy role,” Superintendent Holly Morris-Kuentz said.
The resolution trustees voted on, according to district documents, stated DSISD would:
- Continue to accept volunteer chaplains in accordance with volunteer policies
- Provide mental health services by staff and professionals, and not through any district volunteer programs
This was a revision from what was presented at a board informational meeting Jan. 22, which included a point that volunteer chaplains could provide mental health support, services and programs for staff “in the event of a crisis,” as previously reported by Community Impact.
The board of trustees of some neighboring districts, including Austin ISD and Round Rock ISD, made similar decisions that allow chaplains as volunteers only.
Zooming in
Trustees also used their time Jan. 29 as an opportunity to discuss mental health and the role of chaplains in schools.
Board member Rob McClelland presented statistics on mental health, including that 36.7% of adolescents between the ages of 12-17 had “feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“For me, those are extremely concerning numbers as I imagine it is for many of you,” McClelland said. “Which is why I am proud of [the] effort our counselors [and] our mental health professionals across the district put into helping address these challenges each and every day.”
McClelland added he believes spirituality can have a role in mental health and well-being.
“Just as medical professionals are best equipped and trained to discuss substance abuse and depression, for example, chaplains are equipped to meet the spiritual well-being needs of people that is proven to be instrumental in overall health,” McClelland said. “We should continue to allow anyone who seeks access to this resource the opportunity to do so.”
Board member Kim Cousins emphasized the district’s status quo in regard to the volunteer policy and mental health resources works and has not had community complaints.
“I am currently very happy with the mental health support we have in our district,” Cousins said. “I think our staff are doing a fantastic job.”
