LifeWise Academy Grows Influence and Footprint
Since Securing Official Status in late 2022 - the Concept has Expanded to over 300 Schools in and out of Ohio
LifeWise Academy is expected to complete renovations and to occupy, by the end of the year, the former aquatic center site it purchased late last year.
LifeWise Academy purchased the business and property once called Aquatic Adventures on Lyman Drive, but fronting Cemetery Road just west of Interstate 270, in December 2023 for $2.8 million, according to Franklin County property records.
The 23,000-square-foot building is to be converted into conference and office space and a training facility, according to Christine Czernejewski, a spokeswoman for LifeWise Academy through Firefly PR.
“A portion of the building will house a studio for LifeWise’s multimedia efforts,” she said.
A budget for the renovations and modifications is yet to be determined, according to Czernejewski.
LifeWise Academy is not selling its original office that was once a single-family residence on Grace Street, adjacent to the Dairy Queen on Main Street, in Hilliard, and will continue to use it for support of its programming and operations.
LifeWise has significantly grown since launching in 2019 in just two schools.
Today, LifeWise Academy serves more than 330 schools in 13 states, where more than 31,000 students are enrolled in LifeWise Bible classes, according to Czernejewski.
LifeWise was first established in Hilliard schools in September 2023 and it currently offers programs to students first through fifth grades at Hilliard schools.
LifeWise Academy does not publicly share the names of partner schools, Czernejewski said.
The new LifeWise facility on Lyman Drive will be named the LifeWise Skestos Center, after George Skestos, a major supporter of LifeWise Academy, Czernejewski said.
The facility will also showcase a “Tressel Coaching Hall,” named in honor of former Ohio State University head football coach Jim Tressel, according to Czernejewski.
Joel Penton, founder of LifeWise Academy, was a defensive lineman at OSU while Tressel was head coach.
LifeWise Academy has continued to grow within the Hilliard district and elsewhere since the Hilliard Board of Education enacted a resolution in 2022 establishing a policy for “release time for religious instruction” at the request of LifeWise Academy.
"We are pleased to see Hilliard Schools taking the next step toward joining the majority of Ohio school districts in expanding the educational choices of parents through optional released time religious instruction," Penton said in 2022 in a prepared statement to the former Hilliard ThisWeek News.
According to releasedtime.org, Ohio school districts may offer the option of released time for religious instruction in compliance with the 1948 U.S. Supreme Court case, McCollum V. Board of Education, and the 1952 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Zorach v. Clauson.
Conditions include that the school districts cannot fund programming, that programs cannot occur on school property and that programs must be voluntary without “encouragement or discouragement on the part of any school official,” according to the website.
LifeWise Academy programs receive funding from local churches,[7] private donors[4] bringing in $6.5 million in fiscal year 2023.[8]
According to its website, lifewise.org, it has “an innovative ministry approach with an uncompromising commitment to two values: Gospel Centrality and Excellence.”
“Keeping the Gospel at the center of the program is our only hope for genuinely changing the hearts of the next generation,” the website states, and doing so by meeting the requirements of offering programming off school property, privately funded, and with parental consent.
The decision to allow release time for religious time was discussed at a Hilliard board meeting in August 2022.
“I worry about the message it will send … that their content isn’t viewed as important,” Holly Meister, principal of Scioto-Darby Elementary School, said about the new policy with the potential to funnel students away from art and music classes.
Students are not permitted to miss any core education such as mathematics and reading but can opt to choose release time in lieu of other electives that can be instructed at school such as some fine arts.
“It’s a non-starter for all the reasons mentioned,” board member Brian Perry said at the time. “I loathe telling (teachers instructing specials) that their job isn’t important. I have nothing against religion but it should be before or after (the academic day)."
While acknowledging that logistics poses a challenge, board member Beth Murdoch said in March 2022, when the issue was first proposed, that she “did not see the harm” letting parents decide whether religious instruction or music and art are more important.
Board member Kara Crowley did not support the initiative.
“I don’t support this (and) I have a million safety concerns (about) putting these kids on buses (to send them to) adults I don’t know. I am not comfortable by any stretch of the imagination,” Crowley said in March 2022.
Kate Anderson, a mother of four children who has served on the PTO at Hoffman Trails Elementary School, told board members in 2022 that more than 500 people have signed a petition in support of establishing such a policy.
Board members voted 3-2 in September 2022 to allow the policy. Read some of my contemporaneous reporting in the Columbus Dispatch here:
UPDATE:
The Hilliard Beacon received an e-mail follow-up on June 5th from School Board member Zach Vorst who also voted for the new policy back in September of 2022. He offered the following on how he has seen the policy implemented - notable for the choice to utilize Lunch / Recess periods in this instance as opposed to other instructional time.
Hi Hilliard Beacon team!This is Zach Vorst, I'm a member of the Hilliard Board of Education and a supporter of Released Time for Religious Instruction policies as well as for LifeWise. I wanted to provide you some updates on the status of Lifewise in our schools, as you mentioned the concerns stated at our meetings from September 2022.
Lifewise operates during a recess-lunch-recess period at our schools. Students DO NOT miss any instruction time (not just core instruction time, but none at all). The logistics are functioning well and the parents report being very satisfied. Most/all of the concerns from community members should be assuaged by the reality of how the program is functioning. I fully understand and respect the concerns stated back in 2022. I hope people can look at the real life results of how this program has operated and rest assured that their concerns have not come to light - students are not missing class and the logistics are working well. My own kids participate in Lifewise and the only concern I've heard from a parent or participant is from my daughter, who stated on the first day that "That was fun, but it was too short!".
If you have questions about how the policy has been functioning, or want to hear from a Board member who supports this policy, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Thanks,
Zach Vorst