Concerns loom over religious instruction program

LifeWise Academy, founded in 2018, is a release time religious instruction program serving more than 320 school districts nationwide. Despite the program's popularity, some groups have concerns about its teaching and practices. The A-T reached out to LifeWise, organizations, and local superintendents to learn about the concerns and how LifeWise addresses them. What is LifeWise? The release time for religious instruction program was founded as a division of Stand for Truth, which is a non-profit ministry that conducts events with a mission of reaching public school students. "The creation of LifeWise was inspired by a released time program in Van Wert, which boasts a 95% participation rate among public elementary school students," said LifeWise Communications Director Alyssa Jones. "Stand For Truth and the Van Wert released time program teamed up to create LifeWise Academy, launching the first two LifeWise programs in the fall of 2019." The academy provides "Bible education" for public school students during school hours. The classes are provided off school property, are privately funded and done with parent permission. "The LifeWise curriculum is designed to take students through the entire Bible, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation," Jones said. "Each lesson reviews a Bible passage as well as a 'Living LifeWise' character trait. Every LifeWise lesson has an intentional focus on three areas: Head (what the Bible says), Heart (how the Bible story points to Jesus) and Hands (how we can live out the changed character the gospel produces)." Concerns The A-T spoke with Honesty for Ohio Education, a nonpartisan, statewide coalition that "champions honest education, the affirmation of all identities, cultures and lived experiences, and the rights and safety of all students, families and educators." While the coalition was originally formed in 2021 to fight against Critical Race Theory bills in Ohio, it has continued to grow and focus on other legislation that would affect education. The organization works to "protect and defend honest, inclusive and diverse education for all students in Ohio in K-12 and higher education," according to Communications and Programs Director Matina Bliss. Honesty has taken a stance against House Bill 445, which would change the state's current language regarding released time for religious instruction by changing the language from "may" to "shall." The change would require public school districts to adopt a policy that allows students to be released from school to attend a religious instruction course. "Initially, Honesty was an interested party on HB 445 as we support religious pluralism and being inclusive of students' rights to practice religious observance," Bliss said. "However, when proponent testimony was presented in the Primary and Secondary Education Committee meeting, it became clear this bill is not about religious pluralism, it is about LifeWise. Nearly all speakers had some relationship to LifeWise. "At that point, we changed our stance to opposition because the LifeWise model is problematic and includes discriminatory teachings. LifeWise Academy presents itself as a program 'during school hours' for 'unchurched' students. They use their access to children and incentives, such as candy, to recruit during the school day. Their instructors and bus drivers do not undergo BCI and FBI background checks (as any other school personnel would). More problematic than these operational issues, though, is their teaching, which says unmarried parents are sinning, LGBTQ+ individuals are going against God, and tells children they should choose to obey God over everyone, including their parents." Bliss shared that her organization believes that public education is "a place where students learn what we have in common as people in a multicultural society." "Programs, such as LifeWise, that exist to recruit and teach students to discriminate against others goes against the fundamental purpose of honest, inclusive and diverse education." To address its concerns with HB 445 and the organization's belief that the legislation is about LifeWise Academy, rather than any religious instruction, Honesty has added HB 445 to its legislation tracker. The legislation tracker summarizes the bill, what it would do, Honesty's position on it and how people can act. The A-T also spoke with Parents Against LifeWise, an organization founded in 2023 by parents concerned about the program. The group got its start with Co-founder Molly Gaines connecting with member Zachary Parrish. "Zach's daughter was attending Defiance Elementary School. She was one of only a few students who were opting out of LifeWise Academy," said Gaines. "She was in second grade at the time and the school, not having extra teachers or resources for a split class, would put these kids into a 'study hall' to read alone, despite being too young to work independently. They put the RTRI program on the schedule and made it an actual class, which is also a violation of law; in addition to the regular curriculum being disrupted for the kids who opt out. "Zach said it was like 'screaming into the abyss' because he couldn't find any support or opposition and he just wanted to help his daughter. He did write to the ACLU and the FFRF, both responded by sending letters to the school. To which, they denied all allegations but provided no proof, and the matter was dropped." She also shared her own experience with LifeWise. "By 2022, I had been noticing the signs from LifeWise Academy for a while and was growing concerned about the spread," she said. "I had seen them come from the rural areas of Darke County and now they were in Montgomery County, where I lived in New Lebanon and my daughter's school. Despite my advanced warnings, Dixie Elementary decided to allow LifeWise and do so without notice to the community, which is how they normally operate." Gaines took her research to social media, where she found a post by Parrish. She had already created the Parents Against LifeWise group on social media and invited Parrish to be an admin and assist her in investigating LifeWise. The group's mission is to "alert other concerned parents and community members to the quiet infiltration of our public school system by LifeWise Academy," according to Gaines. "We wish to present information that they are unwilling to disclose so that parents can make an educated decision about what and who their child is exposed to during their school day. LifeWise is misrepresenting themselves as 'non-denominational,' fostering hate and ostracizing children whose parents will not opt them in for whatever legitimate reason. "They are creating divisions in our communities and allowing access to public school children for people who are not vetted or background checked properly, which creates some very scary situations and will continue to do so. Ultimately, we'd like to see them out of our schools. If they cannot be transparent or abide by the strict and necessary safety measures our schools do, then they shouldn't be allowed to operate at all but especially not during school hours." Gaines shared that the organization's primary goal is to spread its message about LifeWise. "We find that both parents and their communities are taken by surprise when this program starts, and by the time anyone knows it is happening, they are launched and enrolling children. We have been organizing into smaller groups that represent our concerns in the school districts, take them to the school board and fight on a local level." Gaines also shared the group's concerns about LifeWise Academy. "First and foremost, this is a violation of our children's right to the separation of church and state. Secondly, it's creating disparity in our schools. The children who don't participate are ostracized by children who do participate. They are pressured to attend by their peers and in some instances their teachers or other adults. "LifeWise is disruptive to the school day," she continued. "It (LifeWise) takes the kids who are participating out of 'specials' classes like art, music, gym, library, technology; or they are missing lunch and recess. The children who don't go to LifeWise are, in many instances, being neglected and made to go to 'study halls' in grades as young as second. Or given busy work to do while the other children leave school and seemingly have a fun party-like field trip." Gaines shared that the "scariest" concern the group has is, LifeWise's "lack of sufficient background checks." "They are using private companies that do a background search that amounts to a consumer report and won't pick up on the same information that a BCI/FBI background check would," she explained. "Recently, our group broke the story that LifeWise had hired an ex-teacher previously accused of 'sexting a minor.' As a result, her Ohio teaching license was permanently revoked. LifeWise placed her on leave when we uncovered their massive neglect and the next morning they fired her. Blaming the applicant for not disclosing her past; despite it being the top result of a simple Google search." She also said that the law states children who attend programs like LifeWise are responsible for any schoolwork missed while attending the program. "In an elementary school environment that is a lot of additional work for their teacher, who would need to facilitate that make-up work. In some schools LifeWise Academy is reporting participation percentages upwards of 85%, so how exactly would a teacher stagger her lesson plans and the curriculum to accommodate that? In addition to the added work the administrative offices endure having to check out 'x' number of kids every day and check them back in. RTRI programs aren't supposed to use any public funds or public school resources but we find that they continually do so without any oversight or consequence." Some opponents of the group have claimed that Parents Against LifeWise is anti-religion. Gaines denied this and shared that the group has "always been inclusive of all faiths or lack thereof." "In fact, we have religious leaders in our group who are very involved and vocal in their opposition, as well as very faithful members of their congregations. Several different sects of Christianity are represented as well as families who are Hindu, Jewish, Pagan and a few mixed religion families as well. Religion has no place in our public schools. Those hours are so few and stretched thin as it is and we cannot have religious differences creating further divides in our schools and increasing the likelihood that there will be religious pressure and bullying." LifeWise Responds The A-T sent LifeWise the following questions. Responses were provided by Communications Director Alyssa Jones. How are LifeWise instructors and drivers paid? Private donations fund each LifeWise program through local fundraising efforts. It is free of cost to schools or participating families. There have been claims that Ohio's HB 445 is about LifeWise expanding into more school districts by requiring schools to provide religious release time. Is this accurate? Ohio law (ORC 3313.6022) currently allows for released time religious classes for public school students. However, under the current law, school officials can veto parents denying students access. We're excited about this bill because it gives parents, not school administrators, the ultimate choice as to whether their children attend Bible education classes during school hours. Opponents of LifeWise claim that the program's model is discriminatory. Some examples of discrimination provided to us are teaching that unmarried parents are sinning, LGBTQ+ individuals are going against God and instructing children to obey God over everyone, even their parents. What is your response to this claim? LifeWise welcomes all children and families and instills values in children like love and respect. Like most Christian organizations, LifeWise holds to traditional Christian values and teaches the main and plain things of Scripture through the curriculum. If students have questions about the Bible's perspective on cultural issues, directors, teachers, and volunteers are trained to respond with compassion, humility and respect. Opponents of LifeWise also claim that the program's model is problematic. Some examples provided to us are LifeWise using its access to children to recruit through incentives such as candy and parties, the lack of BCI and FBI background checks for drivers and instructors and disrupting the school day for both students who participate and those who don't. What is your response to this claim? Incentives: Teachers at LifeWise Academy may use a variety of fun incentives to inspire and cheer on their students as they strive for goals, meet expectations, or collaborate as a team. These thoughtful strategies are all about fostering a positive and engaging learning environment, and they're a common practice in classrooms everywhere. Background checks: To ensure the safety of students and the integrity of the program, all LifeWise staff, leadership board members, and volunteers undergo a comprehensive background screening conducted by ProScreening upon hire and every three years thereafter. ProScreening is used by thousands of businesses and ministries across the country, and they are members of the Professional Background Screening Association. Additionally, all program directors, leadership board members, teachers, drivers, and volunteers must complete Child Abuse Awareness and Mandated Reporting training upon hire and every three years. These practices align with nonprofit industry standards. Scheduling: At LifeWise, we team up with school administrators to find the perfect spot for LifeWise in the school day. It doesn't have to replace any of the existing specials! Many schools weave LifeWise into their weekly specials rotation, so students can choose between LifeWise and other great options like library, tech, or intervention time. And students won't miss any of their core curriculum classes. There are claims that in schools where LifeWise Academies are active students who do not participate in the program are ostracized from their peers. Is this accurate? At LifeWise Academy, we are committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment for all our students, staff, and volunteers. We do not condone bullying or harassment in any form. If a situation is reported, we take it very seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation to ensure that appropriate actions are taken. Our priority is to maintain a supportive and inclusive atmosphere where everyone feels valued. There are claims that despite LifeWise not being allowed to utilize public funds and public school resources, the program often does without oversight or consequences. What is your response to this? LifeWise Academy's replicable model is based on meeting three conditions set by the U.S. Supreme Court: the program must be off school property, privately funded and parent permitted. The LifeWise Support Center is dedicated to training all local programs to operate under legal guidelines. While we are not aware of any deviations from these guidelines, any instances brought to our attention will be promptly addressed. Local schools talk LifeWise The A-T reached out to several local school superintendents to ask about LifeWise. Tiffin City Schools and Gibsonburg Exempted Village School District responded. Other districts either did not respond or did not wish to answer questions. Tiffin City Superintendent Gerald Nadeau said he does not have "direct knowledge or experience with LifeWise" and is "not able to speak about the LifeWise program." When asked if regulations requiring public school districts to accommodate religious academies was appropriate or inappropriate for Tiffin schools, Nadeau said, "The TCS staff strives to provide effective and efficient instruction daily. The district has identified goals and initiatives based on high quality instructional practices, such as explicit, direct instruction with frequent assessment. Our focus will remain on meeting the needs of our students and families." Since the district is focused on meeting the needs of students and families, Nadeau said that "TCS believes that every day we spend with our students and families is a net positive." Nadeau concluded by reiterating that "the focus remains on the students and families of our community" and that the district "will continue to focus on providing high-quality instruction, student and family support and support for our staff." Gibsonburg Superintendent Bob Falkenstein sent a statement to the A-T. "Gibsonburg Schools does not support using school time for religious purposes," he said. "We have board-approved policy related to release time for religious instruction (RTRI) and believe that student growth is based on Ohio's Learning Standards that address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs not religion. Every second of school time is important. We choose to avoid the substantial disruptions to the educational process that come with RTRI." Falkenstein shared that Gibsonburg is comprised of communities that "hold strong personal and religious values" and that "local churches and civic organizations support our families." "Outside of the school day, we support how families choose to teach their own family values, and Gibsonburg Schools will not interfere with how moms and dads do so," he concluded. "Gibsonburg Schools opposes legislation that moves control from the local to the state level. Whether the issue is forcing religious instructional time or using public funds for private school vouchers, we believe that all educators in Gibsonburg Schools know how to teach students better than politicians."