Guest Post: A School Counselor Called Islam an Invasion, Her District Looked the Other Way

A guidance counselor in Texas's third-largest school district posted anti-Muslim hate. Parents spoke up. The district went quiet. Here's what you can do.

Jun 11, 2026

A middle school guidance counselor in one of the largest school districts in Texas publicly declared she is “sick of America being invaded by Islam.” The district’s response? Delete the post and go silent. This is exactly the kind of story that doesn’t get covered, and exactly why we built Let’s Address This.

Today I’m turning the platform over to Let’s Address Texas State Director Saadia Mirza, who has been pushing for accountability from Aragan Middle School and CFISD leadership for over a week with no response. She’s laying out what happened, why it matters, and exactly what you can do about it. Let’s Address This.

Guest Post: Middle School Counselor Posted That She Is “Sick of America Being Invaded by Islam”

Written by Saadia Mirza

Gena Kellar is a current Middle School Guidance Counselor at Aragan Middle school in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, the third-largest school district in Texas. It serves nearly 118,000 students in a community that includes thousands of Muslim families and at least two mosques. Last week she posted an image on her Facebook page reading:

“I’m sick of being called racist because I don’t want America invaded by Islam. I want the America we had growing up, not some third world country.”

A CFISD parent reported the post to the school’s principal, Johnathan Heefner. The principal returned a voicemail saying the account and post had been deleted. That was the extent of the response. The school board and the superintendent have not meaningfully addressed the parent who raised this concern, nor meaningfully addressed the incident itself. By all accounts, Gena Kellar is still employed by the school district, and employed in a position of power over the students she despises. Below is a screenshot of the response a parent at the school district shared with us.

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This matters more because she’s a counselor

Guidance counselors are the adults a student goes to when they are being bullied or in crisis. Kellar has held positions of trust inside CFISD for years, including a former role at McFee Elementary. The Texas Educator Code of Ethics requires every educator to refrain from conduct that negatively affects the learning, mental health, or safety of a student, and to treat students without discrimination based on religion or national origin. Posting that a whole faith is an “invasion” is not adhering to those base standards of her profession. Every Muslim student in CFISD now has to wonder whether the counselor assigned to them sees their family as the invader.

Deleting a profile or post is not the answer

Deleting a Facebook profile or post isn’t a remediation plan, it’s just damage control. If Kellar was comfortable enough to publish that image, she was comfortable enough to hold the belief, and she has been holding it while sitting across from middle schoolers, including Muslim ones, behind a closed counselor’s door. “The account in question has been deleted” is not an answer. “The counselor has been pulled from student contact while this is investigated” is.

What the parents did, and what the District did not

The parent who first received the screenshot reached out to the principal, school board and superintendent. The principal called back to say the account and post had been deleted. The board and the superintendent have not responded. This is the same district that suspends children for dress code violations in a single afternoon. The standard for adults on staff who publicly demean an entire religion appears to be different.

Parents of the CFISD system then reached out to us at Let’s Address Texas to help raise awareness of this injustice. Over the last week we have also taken action and reached out to the Principal of Aragan for a statement and for accountability. Despite multiple attempts, we have received no response as of this publishing. Now, we are using our platform to ask our neighbors across Texas and across the country to raise their voices.

Targeting children is indefensible and unacceptable, and we cannot allow it to go without meaningful acknowledgement, accountability, and remediation. Moreover, when a school district decides that anti-Muslim hate from a staff member doesn’t warrant a public response, that’s not just a Texas problem. Instead, it is a signal to every district nationwide about what they can get away with.

Action items

1. Call the CFISD Superintendent’s Office, Dr. Doug Killian, at 281-897-4077. Ask whether a counselor who described Islam as an invasion will continue counseling Muslim students? Be polite and on the record. Texas is a one party consent state, so you have permission to record your conversation with the school.

2. File an educator misconduct report with TEA at 1-800-252-9668 or the online complaint portal. The Code of Ethics is enforceable.

3. Email every CFISD school board trustee. Their contact page is here. Tell them you expect a public response, not silence.

4. Forward this to every parent you know in northwest Houston.

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We are building this platform exactly for moments like this. Where a marginalized group suffers harm and finds no media platform to help raise awareness. Our commitment to justice and human rights calls on us to demand accountability for every person in this country. If within your means, and especially if you are from or live in Texas, join us as a paid subscriber. Help us continue to build a future where every person has equal access to fairness and justice.