Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have proposed legislation to allow spiritual chaplains in public schools, a move that proponents say will ease a youth mental health crisis, bolster staff retention and offer spiritual care to students who can’t afford or access religious schools.

Conservatives also argue religious foundations will act as a “rescue mission” for what they say are public schools’ declining values, a topic that has galvanized Republican-controlled Legislatures to fight for issues such as parental oversight of curriculum, restrictions on books and instruction on gender identity and state-funded tuition assistance for private and religious schools.

But many chaplains and interfaith organizations oppose the chaplaincy campaign, calling the motivation offensive and describing the dangers of introducing a position of authority to children without clear standards or boundaries.

  • sodalite
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    3 months ago

    what happened to school guidance counselors? they still exist, right?

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      They’re awful. When a girl doxxed my daughter on Discord and prank called her repeatedly, the counselor made the girls apologize to each other because my daughter dared to get mad at the girl for doing it.

      Another counselor made my daughter do some sort of bullshit fake group therapy with girls that were bullying her.

      And these religious assholes would be even worse.

    • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      At least where I’m at, they were casualties of budget cuts back in the late 90’s, early 2000’s. Lost school nurses in the 90’s to the same thing.

      • sodalite
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        3 months ago

        Damn, even the nurses? Public education is even more of a mess than I thought.