By Baptist Message staff
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – After months of delaying a decision about volunteer school chaplains, the Rapides Parish School Board voted 5-4, Feb. 3, to kill a proposed policy that would have aligned Rapides schools with state law.
In 2024, state Sen. Mark Abraham, a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Lake Charles, championed Senate Bill 123 that was signed into law by Gov. Jeff Landry as Act 293, which allows “Each city, parish, or other local public school board” to “employ or accept as a volunteer a certified chaplain to provide support, services and programs for students, staff, and parents.”
DISCUSSION
Documents show that a proposed school policy was prepared as early as May 2025. But public information indicates that it was not an agenda item until October 2025, when a motion was made by Superintendent Jeff Powell, after receiving unanimous approval from the education committee. The matter was assigned to the next monthly meeting but was not included on the consent agenda that would have allowed a vote. After discussions by the board during that November 2025 meeting, the policy was returned to the education committee for more discussion in January 2026, finally coming forward for a board vote on Feb. 3.
Among the five dissenting board members, questions and concerns were raised throughout the months-long process about the policy, including what religions would be represented and possible disinformation that could be spread.
Powell maintained that the program would not allow “the propagation of a specific religious or denominational doctrine,” and reaffirmed that the vetting process would be like an existing one for volunteers, adding that each principal would have the final say about the time and place for volunteers to come on his or her campus.
After the defeat of the motion, Feb. 3, Powell commented that the lack of a policy for Rapides schools does not negate state law. He said that the policy he brought forward simply reflected “what the legislature passed” and noted that although Rapides voted not to have a policy “it doesn’t change the fact that there is a law on the books that allows for chaplains in schools.”
DATA
The public discussion during the multiple board meetings in 2025 and 2026 did not appear to focus on the research that lawmakers considered when they passed Abraham’s bill (unanimously by the Senate and by a super majority in the House) in 2024. Abraham then testified that 15 states had bills in the legislative process and that two other states (Texas, Florida) had passed volunteer school chaplain laws. He also referred to research that indicated chaplains in schools had a beneficial impact.
“In these 30,000 schools, teen pregnancies are drastically down; suicides are zero; and it [chaplain program] has been helping with mental illness – not only for the students, but also for the teachers,” Abraham told the state Senate Education Committee, March 13, 2024. “There has been less teacher attrition because of chaplains in these schools.”
The law requires state and federal background checks of candidates; prohibits sex offenders or child predators from serving; and provides immunity to chaplains except for any action or statement that “was maliciously, willfully, and deliberately intended to cause harm to harass or intimidate those seeking support, services and programs.”
CONTACTS
Board members who voted against adopting a policy:
Wilton Barrios: wilton.barrios@rpsb.us, 318-640-4274
Stephen Chapman: IBD2thDOC@aol.com, 318-448-4382, 318-473-4346
Wally Fall: wally.fall@rpsb.us, 318-451-7946
Sandra Franklin: sandra.franklin@rpsb.us, 318-487-8394
Willard McCall: willard.b.mccall@gmail.com, 318-445-2358
Board members who voted to adopt a policy:
Marie Ashmore: marie.ashmore@rpsb.us, 318-487-0888
Steve Berry: steve.berry@rpsb.us, 318-613-2710
Mark Dryden: mark.dryden@rpsb.us, 601-446-1044
George Johnson: george.johnson@rpsb.us, 318-729-5425
This contact information is published by the Rapides Parish School Board on two web pages:
https://www.rpsb.us/our-district/board-members
https://go.boarddocs.com/la/rpsb/Board.nsf/vpublic?open
