{"id":35748,"date":"2024-02-28T11:08:08","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T17:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35748"},"modified":"2024-02-28T21:31:55","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T03:31:55","slug":"bill-would-allow-chaplains-to-serve-as-public-school-counselors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=35748","title":{"rendered":"Bill would allow chaplains to serve as public school counselors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Education Committee heard testimony Feb. 27 on a proposal that would allow chaplains to perform duties typically done by public school counselors.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Loren Lippincott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LB1065, introduced by Central City Sen. Loren Lippincott, would permit a chaplain to perform the duties of a school counselor without a certificate to teach, administer or perform other special services. Chaplains would, however, be required to undergo a criminal history record check and would be subject to the same eligibility restrictions as school counselors based on the results.<\/p>\n

Under the bill, before a school district could hire a chaplain as a school counselor, the school board would be required to create a policy outlining the hiring process, disciplinary actions, continuing education requirements and termination procedures.<\/p>\n

A similar law was passed in Texas last year, Lippincott said, and state legislatures in Florida, Indiana and Oklahoma currently are considering similar legislation. Chaplains commonly provide services in public settings, he said, such as Congress, hospitals and the military.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf chaplains are entrusted with our firefighters and law enforcement, I think they can be of use in our schools,\u201d Lippincott said.<\/p>\n

Sherry Jones, a former school counselor from Grand Island, testified in support of the proposal. She said Texas has seen a decrease in teacher turnover, bullying and suicide since enacting its law permitting chaplains to perform counselor duties. Nebraska has a shortage of teachers, counselors and social workers, Jones said, and chaplains could help alleviate those shortages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we indeed have a mental health crisis in our schools \u2014 coupled with the shortage of school counselors and social workers to address the needs [of students] \u2014 then we must think outside of the box as to how to provide services to our students and staff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Also testifying in support of the bill was Ted Lewiston of Bellevue. Young people are experiencing an \u201cepidemic\u201d of loneliness and isolation, he said, resulting in increased rates of depression, anti-social behavior and violence in schools.<\/p>\n

Allowing chaplains to perform the duties of school counselors would provide students and school staff with \u201ca listening ear, a caring heart and a resource that\u2019s outside of the normal school hierarchy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deb Rasmussen, a school counselor in Lincoln, testified in opposition to the proposal on behalf of the Nebraska State Education Association. She said school counselors are tasked with providing an inclusive, nonjudgmental environment for all students. Many schools have a culturally and religiously diverse student population, Rasmussen said, and a chaplain could not appropriately serve students of every faith background.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion belongs outside classrooms and public schools,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Testifying in opposition to the proposal on behalf of the Nebraska School Counselor Association, Doug Hauserman said school counselors have knowledge and specialized training in mental health, education and social development. Counselors also abide by a code of ethics, he said, and are versed in local, state and federal laws and policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line, chaplains who do not possess the academic and professional credentials of a school counselor \u2014 even with the best intentions \u2014 may provide inappropriate responses or interventions to students that could jeopardize students\u2019 development and well-being,\u201d Hauserman said.<\/p>\n

Grant Friedman, representing ACLU Nebraska, also spoke against the proposal. Allowing chaplains to assume responsibilities in public schools could create an environment \u201cripe for religious coercion and indoctrination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreedom of religion means that parents in faith communities \u2014 not government officials \u2014 have the right to direct their children’s religious education and development,\u201d Friedman said.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on LB1065.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Education Committee heard testimony Feb. 27 on a proposal that would allow chaplains to perform duties typically done by public school counselors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[286],"class_list":["post-35748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","tag-sen-loren-lippincott"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35748"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35764,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35748\/revisions\/35764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}