LaSalle Parish launches first school chaplain program in Louisiana

LaSalle Parish is the first school system in Louisiana to put a chaplain program in place in its public schools, the volunteer leading the effort told the LaSalle Parish School Board at its Oct. 13 meeting.

“We’re kind of the template, because we are the first parish in the state of Louisiana to implement a chaplain program in a public school system,” said Phil Crawford, youth minister at Eastvue Baptist Church.

The board voted to receive an update on the LaSalle Parish Chaplain Program. LaSalle School Superintendent Jon Garrett introduced Crawford, saying the board was lucky to have him at the meeting. “He has been tireless in getting this thing off the ground,” Garrett said.

Crawford told board members that five chaplains have completed the application process and cleared background checks.

“I’ve got three more that are waiting on background checks to clear,” he said. “So hopefully by next week we’ll have eight.”

“It’s been a slow process, and I’ve learned that when you work with God, you just work on His timetable,” Crawford said. He said organizers began in April by reviewing the state laws and legislation to make sure the program was set up correctly. “We didn’t want to do something wrong,” he added.

A meeting was held in early September for anyone interested in becoming a chaplain, drawing interest from several churches in the area.

Crawford and Dennis Baker, pastor of Olla First Baptist Church, have visited the schools on the north side of the parish to introduce the program while Crawford and Eastvue pastor Dustin Robertson visited schools in the south. He said they have tried to speak with every principal, assistant principal and school secretary in the system.

Each school has a sign-in and sign-out book for chaplains.

“That way we can monitor what schools are getting visited, how many times they’re getting visited, who’s visiting them,” Crawford said.

Chaplains will also carry identification badges. Crawford said Administrative Assistant Rae Lindsey at Jena High School is making the cards “so they’ll have an ID when they go into the school system.”

For now, the focus is on building relationships. “One of the things that we’re trying to get done is our chaplains going in around lunchtime and recesses and just familiarizing themselves with the kids, letting the kids get familiarized with us,” Crawford said.

The chaplains have already been called on. “We’ve actually had a couple calls,” he said. “We’ve actually been used a couple times.”

“This is a system where we have an opportunity to put God back in our schools,” Crawford said. “I’ve heard all my life we need to put God back in our schools.”

Crawford tied the program to the same 2024 legislative session that produced Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law. “In (2024), when they voted in for the Ten Commandments, that’s when this chaplain program actually came into place, and God laid on my heart one night to get this thing going,” he said. “And I thank y’all for accepting it and actually letting us move forward with this.”

He said the response inside the schools has been positive.

“I have not had any teachers or anybody have any negative comments from it,” Crawford said. “Everybody has been accepting of it.”

The program is aimed first at students, but it is open to every school system employee.

“It’s designed first to go towards our children to help them in any way we can, but it’s also available for our staff, for anybody that’s with the La-Salle Parish School Board system, our janitors, school bus drivers,” Crawford said. “It’s open to anybody.”

He described the effort as still in its earliest stages and offered to answer board members’ questions. “If I can’t, I’ll get you an answer,” he said.

The program operates under Act 293 of the 2024 Regular Session, Senate Bill 123 by Sen. Mark Abraham of Lake Charles. Gov. Jeff Landry signed it into law, and it took effect May 28, 2024. An identical House version, Act 688, took effect June 19, 2024, the same day the governor signed the Ten Commandments law.

The law, R.S. 17:3011 through 3014, allows each local school board to employ or accept as volunteers certified chaplains to provide support, services and programs for students, staff and parents. Chaplains are selected by and answer to local school officials, and they do not need certification from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Every chaplain must pass a fingerprint-based state and federal background check before working or volunteering at a school. Registered sex offenders and child predators are barred from serving. Chaplains are shielded from lawsuits over their work unless an action or statement was maliciously, willfully and deliberately meant to harm, harass or intimidate.

Board President Buddy Bethard thanked Crawford for leading the effort.

“Well, we appreciate your willingness to kind of take the lead on this, and it’s great that we got five signed up,” Bethard said.

Board member Jonny Fryar thanked both Crawford and Dustin Robertson, pastor of Eastvue Baptist Church, for their work.

“I’m glad to see that program is getting off to a good start,” Bethard said.

Crawford gave the credit elsewhere. “It’s all God,” he said. “I’m giving it to Him. I just want Him to use it the way that He wants to use it.”

Phil Crawford