The Osceola County School Board voted down a chaplaincy program that would have allowed clergy to act as school counselors for the second consecutive time.
Board member Jon Arguello, who supported the measure, said he plans on bringing up the item for a third time at the next meeting.
“What's the difference between meeting with a chaplain and a guidance counselor? Right? We have guidance counselors that are nightmares for our kids, and the parents come and they complain to me later,” said Arguello.
But board member Julius Melendez said he thinks the district’s time and money is better spent educating children, rather than figuring out how to implement the program.
“And that was my critical issue, is that we have students that aren't reading and writing at grade level, that are not performing proficiency on math scores yet, we're going to take them out of math class to get some counseling,” said Melendez.
Dozens spoke both for and against the program during public comment.
Among them was Z. Nelly Hernandez. She spoke for the second time, in favor of allowing chaplains in schools. As a ministry leader in the Latino community in Kissimmee, she said kids need additional help with their mental health, and that right now, they’re not getting it in schools.
“I'm the one that the parents will come to saying, Nelly, I need help. My kid is suicidal. My kid is having nightmares, they can’t sleep, or they are on drugs, or he was raped, or she was raped. I see the real thing, and I also get it from the teenagers,” said Hernandez.
Hernandez said more parents were at the meeting tonight, because she reached out to people she knows in the faith community, and encouraged them to come. She said many more would have come, but there are too many barriers that exist to their attendance.
“They have young kids. They haven't made it home from work yet. How can they come when there is a language barrier? You know how many Latinos are here? You know that our culture is not for the nonsense that they've been promoting,” said Hernandez, referencing other topics brought up at past school board meetings, like the content of books in K-12 schools.
In opposition to the chaplains in schools program was Abigail Evans, mom of three, and psychiatric nurse practitioner in Osceola County.
Evans said she’s against anyone who is unqualified providing mental health support in schools to kids who might be experiencing a mental health crisis.
“People who have not been trained in counseling can cause immense amounts of harm with their words to a child in crisis. I hold advanced degrees in Biblical Studies and in Nursing. In this program, I would qualify to be a chaplain, but because I work in psychiatry, I know how unqualified even I am to administer counseling and advice to a child in crisis,” said Evans.
Evans said she’s also concerned that the program could attract people who don’t have children’s best interests at heart.
“I'm also concerned about the type of people that would be interested in an unpaid and voluntary chaplain position. My fear is that the individuals that are interested in holding this type of position would be religious zealots who are intent on proselytizing and influencing children to follow the chaplain's own beliefs and prejudices,” said Evans.
Of the more than 70 school districts across the state of Florida, only Miami-Dade County has implemented a chaplains in schools program since the law took effect July 1.
Under the law, each school district must decide whether the chaplains in schools program is right for them.
Watch the full school board meeting here:
