Religious education program may offered at Oak Hill

Students at Oak Hill Junior High may have the opportunity to learn Bible stories and lessons in character development through an off-campus program. 

LifeWise Academy is a release time religious education program headquartered in Franklin County Ohio that operates in 12 states across the country. 

The program focuses on teaching the Bible to elementary and junior high students during school hours. The program is permitted by law so long as it is privately funded, takes place off school grounds and parents sign a permission slip for their child. 

The idea of opening a LifeWise chapter in the Oak Hill School District was first presented to the school board during their January meeting. 

Andy Horner, a school board member, said that while board approval is not needed for LifeWise to start a chapter at Oak Hill, one of the 10 steps to start a LifeWise chapter is to get the school board to acknowledge the program. 

“The school board can’t endorse anything,” Horner said. “But LifeWise likes to know and have it on file that the local school board has seen the plan and acknowledges the plan specifically on school letterhead.”

Horner said that he has done personal research into LifeWise, and found some things that stuck out to him as red flags. 

“I think everybody locally is well-intentioned, well-meaning and want what’s best for the community,” Horner said. 

The program would take place off school grounds at Open Door Fellowship Church.

Curriculum 

Lifewise lessons can range anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes or longer depending on the school district and age range.

Lois Stump is a LifeWise teacher in Ohio’s Shawnee school district.

“Some of the classes are super, super short, like 20 minutes,” Stump said. “So sometimes what they do is they try to, if you have a 20 minute class period, on the bus ride over, they start the lesson.”

Stump said that every LifeWise lesson is composed of three elements, called the head, heart and hands. 

“So the head part is the general concept you want them to learn, and the heart aspect is what you want them to internalize and believe,” Stump said. “And the hand aspect is the practical application, like a LifeWise character trait such as trustworthiness and loyalty.”

The curriculum was created in conjunction with the gospel project, a program that Katie Helser, a LifeWise teacher in Ohio’s Allen East school district, said was basically used in churches.

Andy Horner said he is concerned about how hard it was to access this curriculum. 

“Their curriculum is not available online, and the lack of transparency from a group that reports to be teaching character is troubling to me,” Horner said.

Horner said that he filled out a form to access the content where he was asked to enter his name, physical address, email and phone number. He also had to check a box indicating whether he was a parent, community member, church leader or member of the press. 

“To me that means they intend to treat different people differently,” Horner said. 

Horner said that once he got a digital copy of the curriculum, he was allowed to look over the material for 48 hours before he lost access. 

LifeWise settled a copyright lawsuit against Indiana parent Zach Parrish last year after Parrish shared LifeWise curriculum on Facebook. 

Travel and Insurance

Release time religious education programs must take place off school property and must either walk or ride a non-school vehicle to a second location.

Lois Stump said that she personally picks kids up for LifeWise and drives them to the meeting place.

“(Stump) does only for her group because her classes are as small as–  I think her largest class has three students in it” Shawnee LifeWise Director Ruth Ann Stover said. “All the other students that we have are transported by LifeWise buses that are branded for LifeWise and carry additional liability coverage.”

For Oak Hill, Horner said students participating in LifeWise would be bussed to Open Door Fellowship Church using vehicles provided by Ark Christian Ministries. 

Andy Horner said he is concerned about kids getting hurt or getting into an accident going to and from school. 

“One, I don’t want a kid to be hurt, but two, who’s going to pay for that?” Horner said. “Those are the kinds of things as a school board member that I have to worry about.”

Missing Classes

Lois Stump said that for her school district, students are missing study hall at the middle school level and computer or art classes at the elementary level. 

For Helser’s school district, LifeWise is considered an equivalent to a leadership class taught at the fifth and sixth grade level. 

The tentative time for Oak Hill’s LifeWise program is during eighth period. 

“I was talking to somebody who has a kid who has eighth period math, and so if they (the parents) opted to take them out for this, they’re going to miss a core curriculum like math,” Andy Horner said. 

Horner said also the program communicates to kids that it is okay to miss electives. 

“We have such a limited amount of time with kids anyways, that I just don’t want to miss more time,” Oak Hill Superintendent Sheri Hardman said. 

Alternative Programs

While LifeWise is a national company that helps communities take advantage of release time religious education laws, they are not the only option for families looking to give their kids religious education. 

Oak Hill has a Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and Kids Hope, a mentoring program run by Converse Church of Christ. In this program, teachers identify kids who are struggling and pair them with a volunteer from the community. 

In other areas, communities have started their own programs similar to LifeWise. 

Sheena Eickholt started Planting Youth, another Ohio-based release time religious education program, with her husband. 

Eickholt said she was asked to be a part of LifeWise, but turned down the offer because she could not teach from her preferred version of the Bible. While LifeWise emphasizes character development, Planting Youth is more focused on evangelism.

Andy Horner said he is not opposed to a smaller program like Planting Youth, which operates at the local level. 

Sheri Hardman said that after school programs for character development have been available in the past. 

“Probably 10 of our kids that needed it the most went, and they were so excited,” Hardman said. “They did the climbing wall and they taught lessons through those activities, and like those are the kids that come home every night to no one.”

LifeWise, or any similar religious education program, is allowed to meet regardless of whether or not the board votes to acknowledge them.

The next Oak Hill school board meeting is Feb. 10 at 6:30 p.m.