Hays opposes chaplains as counselors

BUDA — At its Dec. 11 meeting, the Hays CISD Board of Trustees approved an item that denied the ability for the district to hire chaplains as school counselors.

This decision comes after the 88th Legislature passed Senate Bill 763, which allows “a school district or open-enrollment charter school [to] employ or accept as a volunteer a chaplain to provide support, services and programs for students as assigned by the board of trustees of the district of the governing body of the school. A chaplain employed or volunteering under this chapter is not required to be certified by the State Board for Educator Certification.”

The bill requires the board of trustees to take a vote within six months of the effective date of the bill, Sept. 1, on whether they will adopt the policy.

This item was preceded by several comments during the public forum, one of which was Dr. Barbra Mann Wall.

“In the United States, we have a fundamental right of religion and belief in the world in which we live today.  All faiths and non-faiths coexist without favor of one over another,” said Mann Wall. “In these schools, we see students from a variety of religious backgrounds and some students who have no religious affiliation at all … Without question, public school employees retain their rights to free exercise of religion. When off duty, school employees are free to engage in worship, proselytizing or any other lawful faith-based activity. When they are acting as representatives of a public school system, however, the supreme court has consistently said their rights are constrained by the first amendment's establishment clause that says congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

“While chaplains consider matters of belief, worship, the soul, prayer rituals and God, they are not trained to help students deal with homophobia, pregnancy, psychological and physical abuse, homelessness, eating disorders, school shootings, self-esteem problems, racism, sexism, poverty, suicide thoughts, bullying and peer pressures,” Mann Wall concluded.

Pastor Jeffrey Thompson, of Texas Impact, began his public comment by listing his 49 years of experience, including “pastoral care and counseling,” yet he noted that despite his years of work, he is “in no way qualified to be a school counselor … Those two professions require two very different skill sets and training. We’re not opposed to chaplains in general, but we believe that hiring them in school as school counselors would not give students the guidance [that] they need to be successful academically.”

The resolution brought forth in the meeting was to not permit chaplains to be professional counselors in the district, but to allow them to provide support, services and programs for students.

Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright began the discussion by stating that the district recognizes that the school counselors are best suited for the students attending because of their training, which was the biggest reason for creating a resolution against the bill.

Trustee Vanessa Petrea also agreed that chaplains would not be the appropriate measure to mend, what she assumes, is the lack of mental health providers. Despite this, the trustee noted that there are many great chaplains and churches available in the area if a student feels as though they want to seek out a religious mentor.

As far as volunteering is concerned, Wright confirmed that a chaplain would still be subject to background checks and parental consent prior to mentoring a student.

“This is really about having the most qualified personnel that we can hire doing the job that they’re hired for, which is advising our students as a professional school counselor,” stated board president Will McManus.

The resolution passed unanimously.

The trustees also approved the names recommended by the 2023 Naming Committee for the upcoming elementary schools, nutrition building and central office:

• Elementary #16 – Jim Cullen Elementary School. Cullen is a retired Hays CISD teacher, a past president of the Hays CISD Texas State Teachers Association chapter, an early and longtime member of the Hays Education Foundation, a past regional teacher of the year, the district photographer for more than a decade following his retirement and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the district.

• Elementary #17 – Lamont Ramage Elementary School. Ramage, who died in April 2023, was a longtime justice of the peace, a former school board member and board president and the former mayor of the city of Hays. He had a deep connection to the district not only serving in his position on the board, but also as a longtime volunteer.

• The Child Nutrition Building – The Helen Alcala Child Nutrition Center. Alcala was a longtime district child nutrition employee at the historic Buda School campus. Following her retirement with the district, at the age of 57 in 1980, she opened a successful restaurant of her own on Buda’s Main Street – Helen’s Casa Alde. Following her death, her son managed the restaurant. Her son died last year, but the family still owns and operates the establishment.

• Central Office – The Hays CISD Academic Support Center. The committee chose to recommend that the district keep, at this time, the central office building name as it has been colloquially known — the Hays CISD Academic Support Center (Central Office).

“There’s a few things we get to do as a board that are a whole lot of fun and this is one of them,” said McManus. “Naming schools is great, especially when it’s named after long time members of our community who have poured hours and hours of love and care onto our students. And tonight, that is completely evident with the names that have been brought to us.”

This was the only meeting for the month of December. The board will resume meetings at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 16, 2024.