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Lifewise Academy Seeking Board Approval in Tiffin City Schools

Lifewise Academy has created a steering committee and an official plan to bring its bible study classes to Tiffin City Schools. The plan would offer the program to students at Krout and Washington elementary schools. The classes would be held at the Chandelier Event Center for Washington and Restoration Alliance Church for Krout.

Lifewise steering committee member Andrew Gase presented (16:30) to the Tiffin City Schools Board of Education (BOE) on June 24, 2024. Gase let the BOE know that an official proposal will be made in the future. He spoke about some of the benefits that he sees with the program. The details were very sparse, and some were incorrect. Gase stated that Lifewise has been in operation for ten years. Lifewise was formed in 2019 and has been operating for five years. He said the program is legal if it meets three criteria. The first is that the program is free. The program does not have to be free; the program can not use any public funds. A program could charge students, but Lifewise does not. Lifewise is funded by private donations. The second is the program is held off school property. Third, the student's guardian gives permission for the student to attend.

Gase missed several more requirements from the 1952 Supreme Court case. Zorach v Clauson states, “No announcement of any kind will be made in the public schools relative to the program.” This means no fliers can be sent home. No announcements on electronic or physical boards. Lifewise can not set up a table at open house events, and no staff may suggest or offer students to attend Lifewise. This requirement from the Supreme Court case is often not followed by Lifewise. Please look at the real world examples of Lifewise being pushed onto students here School Endorsements

Weekly attendance reports must be given to the schools of those students who attended Lifewise. This process does not always happen. Public Record Requests have proven that not all schools know which students attend Lifewise each week. Response 1 Response 2 Response 3

According to state law, students may not miss any core classes and are responsible for any missed work. Lifewise employees push for schools to integrate the Lifewise class into the normal school schedule, which would take the place of existing instruction time. Lifewise employee Ben Ruprecht stated that Lifewise sees very high enrollment when the schools facilitate Lifewise's request for a special class time. Lifewise will allow other time options, but they want the students to miss classes because they see the most enrollment in this scenario. Students have expressed missing lunch, and recess is not ideal, and for many students, school lunch may be the only hot meal they will receive during the day. There is no good time to remove students from the public school. This is not something school districts should even have to worry about.

A private organization removing students from school on a consistent basis is not the environment school districts should be run under. If you allow one RTRI program, Lifewise, then you would have to allow the rest. The next organization that says they have a legal right to remove students from instruction time would have to be allowed. Where would it end?

Background Checks

School teachers and staff who will be working with students undergo extensive background and criminal checks. These include fingerprints for Ohio BCI and FBI checks. Lifewise uses a service called Protect My Ministry (PMM). PMM offers several levels for doing background checks on employees and volunteers. None of them require fingerprints and do not use the Ohio BCI or FBI databases. The service Lifewise uses is either the “Basic” or “Plus” package that PMM offers. Basic does not even do a county lookup for criminal activity. PMM recommends organizations do not use the “Basic” plan. I was told that because after COVID-19, all states no longer send all their data to the national database they use. They have tried to get all organizations to stop using it. It appears Lifewise still does. The “Plus” background check Lifewise does on the teachers only includes one county criminal check. If the individual has lived in multiple counties in the last 7 years, Lifewise would have to pick only one county.

Dividing Students Based on Religious Beliefs

Remember that students who attend LifeWise are taken from their class by school staff to the school doors. They often ride on a school bus (owned by Lifewise) to the Lifewise class location. They then return to school and are handed off to school staff again. This process gives the impression that Lifewise is endorsed by the school. What other impression would it give to students?

Lifewise policies and curricula consistently lead to instruction that divides students based on their religious beliefs. A document called "Difficult Questions From Students" details how Lifewise instructs its teachers and volunteers to respond to students' questions. If a student lives with a parent, guardian, grandparent, etc.… who may not have the same beliefs as Lifewise, they will instruct the students to respect the adult but obey God before their parent or guardian. This is a dangerous rule to tell students. But it also opens a broader thought. Why does Lifewise have documents like these to help instructors? It's because the tactics Lifewise uses to attract students often lead to parents enrolling their children without being fully aware of what Lifewise is. Lifewise has documented policies that tell students to disobey their parents. This should not set right with any parent. Bible study can be accomplished without trying to separate a child from their parents or guardians.

Lifewise instructors give the message that those who do not follow Christianity are valued less than those who do. In a skit posted Facebook from a Lifewise class in Saint Paris, OH, an instructor describes how bad kids are fighting, stealing, name-calling, and being lazy at school. The instructor continues and says, “This is really bad,” and describes how the child doesn't go to church or read the bible. Associating negative character traits with people because they have a different religious view than you is bullying.

The Lifewise Academy program in Continental, OH used a drawing a student made to show what the students had learned that year. The drawing depicts an "incorrect" person saying "god fake" with the words "no muscle." Then, a larger person who is labeled "correct" says "god real" and has "big muscle." Again, teaching students to bully people who are different from them. The instructor and program director from the Lifewise program were so proud of this drawing and its message they wanted to share it with the world. The idea that the Lifewise instructors can not determine what bullying behavior is and then go a step further to encourage and share the behavior is disturbing. Sending students back to public schools with these ideas will not create a healthy classroom environment.

The "Difficult Questions From Students" document also demonizes single parents and adults who live together before getting married. Children do not need to be told their parents are living in sin or that their peers' parents are. Lifewise created these documents to instruct their staff on how to discuss these issues with students. Please read the document and be aware of what Lifewise is teaching.

Non-Denominational Claims

Lifewise states that their ministry is non-denominational. The curriculum Lifewise uses is from the Southern Baptist Conference (SBC). The curriculum is called “The Gospel Project” and is owned by Lifeway (not Lifewise), a subsidiary of the SBC. The SBC and Lifewise do not approve of churches that have women as leaders. The SBC is not an inclusive ministry. Lifewise has been asked to show the full curriculum to parents, but they say they can not because of copyright laws. Lifewise says it can only be taught to students and not shared with parents. Libraries are filled with millions of books, all protected by copyright law. I don’t feel that is why Lifewise refuses to share the curriculum. They do not want the public to know exactly what is being taught.

Ostracizing LGBTQ+ People

The same "Difficult Questions From Students" document instructs Lifewise students that LGBTQ people make God angry. Lifewise students are told same-sex couples need to repent and change their ways. This would be conversion therapy in the LGBTQ world. Students who attend Lifewise will feel their friends who have parents who are in same-sex relationships are bad people. This behavior occurring on school grounds is considered bullying. Any decent human being would also know it is bullying.

Lifewise Bribes Students to Boost Enrollment

Lifewise Academy requires three different churches to be involved in the planning process of starting a local program. This gives Lifewise an existing set of students who will attend the program when it starts. Lifewise then uses these initial students to increase enrollment in the program. Lifewise's Boosting Enrollment" document lists ways programs can increase enrollment. The first item on the list is using the existing students in Lifewise. They say to “Offer a treat or reward for bringing a friend”. A program director for Lifewise described how he uses ice cream parties to boost enrollment and even admits it's bribing kids. This is a ministry, not a for-profit company.

Lifewise CEO Joel Penton wants to Abolish Public Schools

Joel Penton is the CEO of Lifewise Academy. He has stated that public schools should be abolished. Penton and Lifewise have conducted multiple interviews (interview interview)with organizations whose mission is to remove students from public schools. Penton has said repeatedly that public schools are his mission field. Penton is not concerned with the outcomes of Lifewise on the public schools. Lifewise has stated that independent third-party studies show that Lifewise improves attendance and disciplinary issues at schools. However, the data behind the study has never been peer-reviewed. A study must be peer-reviewed to be published.

Please ask questions of those trying to bring Lifewise Academy into the local schools. Ask your faith leaders what they think. Try to imagine being a family who worships a religion not supported by Lifewise. Think about teachers who may have their schedules changed and students removed.

If you are struggling with finding an inclusive church or would like to join one, this is a good reource. LoveBoldly