Saved by the bell: LifeWise Academy brings off-site religious education to public schools

Nov. 21—Ryan Cappuzzello isn't one to tell his mom each and every thing he learned in school each day.

But, on occasion, he might show her.

Like the day she followed a suspicious silence upstairs, to find her second-grader sitting in front of his Bible. He'd learned how to look up specific passages in it that day, and he was trying out his newfound skill by looking up a favorite one in the Book of Genesis: Noah and the ark.

"I couldn't believe it," Jessica Cappuzzello said. "I thought that was so cool."

It's not the usual what-did-you-do-in-school-today report from a public school student like Ryan, who attends New Albany Primary School outside of Columbus. But it is for public school students who participate in LifeWise Academy, a religious instruction program that utilizes a long-standing but little-known accommodation to present its curriculum between the bells.

Established in 2018, and on the ground in an expanding number of classrooms since 2019, LifeWise Academy offers an easily replicable model for what's known as "released time religious instruction"; it's essentially a legally permissible arrangement that allows students in public schools to receive religious instruction during the school day, so long as these programs meet a few criteria with an eye to protecting freedom of religious expression for all parties.

Namely, released-time programs must be optional, off-site and funded privately; a parent must give permission for a child to participate.

While the model has been around for more than a century — and has been around in this state for nearly as long, with two of the longest-running state programs in Bluffton and Sidney in northwest Ohio — it's taking off in its manifestation as LifeWise Academy. The ministry started with two communities in 2019, and just two years later they're looking at 29, according to Joel Penton, founder and executive director of its broader umbrella ministry.

Those programs are largely focused on northwest Ohio, but Mr. Penton noted that this year also saw milestone ventures into their first urban, suburban and out-of-state programs. LifeWise Academy does not yet have a presence in or immediately surrounding Toledo.

"Our strategy, from the beginning, was to create a plug-and-play model with all the resources and systems and processes that any community would need, to be able to adopt and hit the ground running," Mr. Penton told The Blade. "So the hope and prayer is that we see continued exponential growth."

Families like Cappuzzellos are excited about the possibilities. They see LifeWise Academy as an enhancement to the religious education that their sons already receive through their church on Sundays, although Ms. Cappuzzello is quick to note the conversations she's had with other school families who see the ministry as an introduction to a more structured spirituality.

She's happy to hear what her son learns each day — and to see his enthusiasm for it.

"At one point, he said, I like LifeWise better than recess," Ms. Cappuzzello recalled with a laugh. "And this is a 7-year-old."

Well established

Released time religious instruction dates back to 1914, according to a history supplied by School Ministries, a Christian ministry that equips, educates and encourages organizers and would-be organizers of these types of programs across the country. That was by way of a superintendent who established an off-campus religious education program in Gary, Ind.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of released time religious instruction in 1952, so long as programs meet the three basic criteria. And the Ohio Legislature codified released-time programs into law in 2014, at the time just the second state to do so.

School Ministries estimates that there are more than 500 released-time programs in operation across the country today, involving 350,000 students between first grade and high school. Offering a more local perspective, Jennifer Miller, executive director for School Ministries Ohio, said this state is host to perhaps more of these programs than any other.

She estimates the number of programs between 25 and 30, active in approximately 50 school districts across the state; she estimates more than 7,000 students participate.

LifeWise Academy is a relative newcomer in this field, and one whose replicable "plug-and-play model" stands out amid its more grassroots counterparts, Ms. Miller said.

LifeWise Academy in many ways traces its inspiration to one of these programs in Van Wert, which had caught the eye of Mr. Penton. He'd grown up in the area and had since established his own ministry, Stand for Truth, that was oriented toward public school students.

"It seemed like such an incredible opportunity to reach many, many, many students," Mr. Penton said, recalling this introduction to released-time programs with Van Wert's Cross Over the Hill, which was established in 2012. "It seemed like a virtually untapped opportunity."

LifeWise Academy went live initially in two communities; Van Wert came under its umbrella and changed its name the same year. In 2020, two more communities came on board.

"And then things started to really open up this year and catch fire," Mr. Penton continued. "We're currently launching this school year in 22 additional school districts."

Phil Nofziger is northwest Ohio field director for LifeWise Academy. He was influential in getting one of the two initial programs, in Ayersville just outside of Defiance, off the ground in 2019.

He's seen interest in the ministry in numerous communities in this region, some of which have since established their own programs, and he said he's seen growth in individual programs, too. In Ayersville, for example, participation is at 75 percent. In Defiance, which just launched a program this year, it's just as high.

"I believe this is good for the schools, I believe it's good for the churches, and I believe it's good for the community as well," said Mr. Nofziger, a retired educator and administrator. "It's a way for people to come together and help support something that, I think, is very beneficial."

Sharing the Bible

Each day for three weeks, Ryan Cappuzzello boards a bus with his second-grade classmates, to travel roughly two minutes to a nearby church that hosts LifeWise Academy.

There they talk character: gratitude, trustworthiness, respect, for example. Each attribute is tied back to the Bible, in a non-denominational adaptation of a curriculum called the Gospel Project. And they talk about ways to put each characteristic in action, too, in a practical lesson that Ms. Cappuzzello said she's seen her son taking to heart.

"When they talked about gratitude, I noticed my son came home, and he's saying: Thank you so much for making dinner for our family," she said, offering an example. "He thanked his two younger brothers ... for sharing their toys.

"I just think it's amazing that they're teaching the kids how to practice what they're learning," she continued.

Each school and district accommodates the released-time program a bit differently, according to Mr. Nofziger: While each one is run off-site, for example, some bus students to hosting churches or community centers, generally beginning or reviewing a lesson en route, while others arrange sites that are near enough to walk; some schools and districts release students for one period a week, while others, like New Albany, operate on trimesters.

Their program launched this year as the ministry's first suburban program. Students there attend a class every day for a three-week trimester, in lieu of a technology course back at the school.

Regardless of how a school accommodates the program, the idea is that students who participate don't miss out on any integral parts of their day back in the classroom, and the students who don't participate likewise aren't twiddling their thumbs.

LifeWise sees attendance from a wide variety of students, according to those involved, including those who are and aren't already familiar with the Bible. In some ways, it's the latter who are at the heart of the ministry.

The released-time program becomes a way to reach those youngsters, and sometimes their families by extension.

"If their parents or guardians don't attend a church," Mr. Nofziger pointed out, "most of them wouldn't have a chance to hear the truth of the Bible."

Mr. Penton thinks of the goal of the program: "To provide bible education to as many students as possible," as he puts it.

"This seems like a very practical strategy to do so."