By PIERRE — As calls for youth mentors grow louder across South Dakota, faith leaders could be tapped by public schools to help guide kids through adolescence.
Novstrup
That’s the idea behind legislation Rep. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen, carried to the floor of the state House this week, proposing that school boards enlist chaplains to counsel students. However, the well-intended House Bill 1054 couldn’t overcome opposition from a majority of Novstrup’s colleagues who were concerned about mixing religion with state-run schools and parental rights.
The necessity of the bill also proved to be a talking point during debate on the House floor Wednesday.
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“Our school districts can already do this. They’ve been doing it,” Yankton Republican Rep. Mike Stevens said, referring to the ability for school districts to establish partnerships with community nonprofits that local school boards and administrators deem appropriate and necessary.
Highlighting Stevens’ point, Rep. Brian Mulder, R-Sioux Falls, told his colleagues that a youth-focused ministry group he helped establish in 2008 does volunteer work in dozens of middle and high schools across the region.
“They’re having an impact in schools right now with adults and students developing ministry teams,” Mulder said.