Fort Worth ISD board nixes unlicensed chaplains for mental health services

Chaplains won’t provide mental health services to students in the Fort Worth Independent School District, the district’s board decided Tuesday evening.

The board approved a resolution stating that the district wouldn’t bring in unlicensed clergy members to serve in mental health roles on campus, as allowed under a new Texas state law.

Before voting on the resolution, board First Vice President Anne Darr said she thought the implication that unlicensed clergy could serve as school counselors was insulting to mental health professionals who go through years of training to prepare for those roles. She said she hopes to see the district continue to welcome clergy members as volunteers, just as it does anyone else in the community, but doubts whether they’re equipped to provide mental health care.

Last May, state lawmakers approved Senate Bill 763, which allows school districts to use safety money to pay for chaplains to provide mental health services on campuses. Districts can also bring in chaplains on a volunteer basis. The bill had the backing of conservative Christian groups, who said chaplains could help restore moral values in school.

But opponents argued that the move could open the door for proselytizing in schools. Among those opponents were more than 100 chaplains from across Texas who signed an open letter calling on lawmakers to reject the bill, saying chaplains don’t have the expertise and training necessary to provide mental health services.

During the public comment portion of Tuesday’s meeting, a handful of speakers urged the board to approve the resolution stating the district wouldn’t bring in chaplains to serve in mental health roles. Among them was the Rev. Mary Spradlin, senior pastor at Arlington Heights United Methodist Church. Spradlin said she was grateful the district partners with faith leaders, particularly when kids have gone through trauma, but thinks it would be unwise for school leaders to bring in clergy members to provide religious instruction.

Spradlin also worries about a lack of training requirements for school chaplains. She noted that military chaplains must meet rigorous educational, denominational and character requirements. The new state law doesn’t require chaplains to be licensed to work in schools, meaning they’d only need to pass a background check to qualify.

Spradlin also said she took issue with an assertion made by the bill’s author, Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Wallisville, who said the bill would ensure that schools don’t become “God-free zones.”

“I will share my own conviction as a person of faith that it is the height of human arrogance to state that there is any place our children are where God is not,” she said. “Our schools are not now, nor have they ever been, God-free zones.”

Keller ISD board allows volunteer chaplains in mental health roles

The vote in Fort Worth ISD came a day after the Keller Independent School District’s board approved a resolution allowing volunteer chaplains in schools. About 20 speakers urged the Keller ISD board to reject the resolution, most arguing that chaplains don’t have the expertise to provide mental health care.

Lisa Silverman, a board member with the Stepping Stones Foundation, told the board that the homeless and at-risk kids the foundation works with every day are too fragile to be handled by volunteer chaplains. The foundation provides services like emergency housing, mental health and medical care to North Texas kids in crisis. Intervention counselors are specially trained to identify those kids’ needs, she said, and that’s training that chaplains typically don’t have.

“We just want to make sure that the children in your district have the tools and resources to attend school every day,” she said. “It’s just really hard for them to exist on a daily basis.”

Before voting to approve the resolution, several board members pushed back on those comments, noting that chaplains are already allowed to volunteer in the district. Board Vice President Sandi Walker said students are in dire need of support. Volunteer chaplains could complement the services already provided by school counselors, she said.

“School counselors and chaplains do not compete with one another,” Walker said. “Allowing chaplains is another touchpoint to providing crucial services to a student or a staff member in need.”