EATON — The topic of “Released Time for Religious Instruction” and the LifeWise program was broached by Eaton Community Schools Board of Education member Terry Parks at the board’s Monday, April 15, meeting.
Parks brought up the topic of Ohio House Bill 445 which deals with RTRI, released time for religious instruction, under old business during the meeting.
“The policy that is out now is permissive. Which means that districts do not have to participate. And they don’t even have to adopt a policy that is permissive,” Parks said.
“The policy or the law that is going through the state legislature right now — and again, it would have to go through the House and the Senate and then have to be signed by the governor — would make RTRI, released time for religious instruction, mandatory — no longer permissive but mandatory — for every school district in the state of Ohio.
“Which as we all well know, this RTRI is LifeWise, it’s what the LifeWise program is all about,” he noted.
“Here we are at Eaton. And we have decided not to allow that to happen during the school day but to allow LifeWise to have their program after school. I found out that there has been some name calling — somebody at Northmont during a school board meeting asked what was going on at Eaton. And we were called ‘outliers.’ I don’t know what that means. But it would seem to me to be a negative connotation as opposed to a positive thing because we’ve chosen not to have that happen during the school day,” he continued.
“I don’t think there’s any question that this is a movement that’s going on across the state of Ohio. Many school districts have already done that. We chose not to have it become a distraction to our kids during the school day, but that it would be done after school. And I’m not really sure that the LifeWise people are happy with that,” Parks added. “It’s against their policy, but they’ve chosen to make special dispensation for us to allow us to do that. So I just wanted to make everyone aware that there is a movement in the state legislature in Ohio to make this a mandatory thing. So, whether it happens or whether it doesn’t, we’ll find out down the road. But I have a concern as a former teacher, I have a concern because I think our kids have struggled enough with test scores and reading and responsibilities and everything else.
“I guess if I were a parent who had a kid in school today and I wanted them to get a religious education, I would do one of three things,” Parks added. “I would put them in a Christian school like Dayton Christian or I would remove them from school and homeschool them myself — or I would do the simple thing which is what my parents did to me years ago. I would take them to church.”
LifeWise will not be operating after school in Eaton during the next school year.
An April 17, letter to the Eaton community was posted on the LifeWise-Eaton Facebook page by LifeWise -Eaton Program Director Kayla Myers:
“Thank you for allowing us to serve Eaton students through LifeWise Academy over the past three years!
“We are writing to announce that our LifeWise program will no longer be offering classes after school beginning in the fall of 2024. Our intent is to transition to offering classes during the school day, upon approval from the school district. At this time, approval has not been granted, so there will possibly be a pause in programming.
“The mission of LifeWise Academy is to positively impact students, schools and communities through Bible based character education during school hours. Under a little known Supreme Court ruling. students can be released from public school during the day to attend religious classes, provided the program is off school property, privately funded and parent permitted. LifeWise serves hundreds of schools across the country under this model.
“LifeWise Eaton plans to continue serving your students During School Hours as soon as school approval is obtained. We will keep you informed of critical updates moving forward.”
The Facebook post noted, “LifeWise Academy is now available during school hours to over 300 schools in the United States. We encourage you to reach out to each of the Eaton Community Schools Board of Education members if you would like to see our Eaton students have the opportunity to attend a LifeWise program during the school day through the Released Time Religious Instruction policy that is currently in place.”
For more information about HB 445, the current language can be reviewed on the 135th General Assembly’s website at https://tinyurl.com/5n742d5r.
In other business:
•Parks reported Miami Valley Career Technology Center would be holding an open house for the campus’ new building on Friday, May 10, from 5-7 p.m.
“It’d be worth your time if you get a chance to get over there. It should be cool. I don’t know whether the governor is going to be there. I’m sure Lieutenant Governor in Husted will be there, but they’re talking about Governor being there,” he noted.
•Superintendent Jeff Parker reported on the recent Senior Citizens Breakfast. “I do want to just publicly recap the senior citizens appreciation breakfast. Second time. We had a three-year hiatus with COVID and the impact of COVID and we were able to bring it back last year. It’s an event that’s been a long-standing tradition at the high school. It’s just always a nice event. Everybody’s happy. They like to catch up. You get to hear stories and just listen.”
Students also performed their recent musical for the seniors who attended. “I think that’s just a nice little formula that our senior citizens really, really appreciate,” he added.
Parker also reported on other events across the district, including STEAM (Science, Technology, Arts and Math) Night at Bruce Elementary, and noted Bruce Elementary had also been recognized by the Department of Education and Workforce with the Momentum Award. “In order to qualify for the Momentum Award, they had to improve the performance index on the state assessments by three or more points and receive a value-added rating of four or five stars. So just another significant accomplishment,” he reported.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
