LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - Members of the Lima Sertoma Club hearing about the LifeWise Academy in Elida.
It is a bible education program founded by former Ohio State football star Joel Penton. LifeWise has academies across the nation with nine in Allen County and dozens in the region. It allows students in public schools to take time out of the school day known as religious release time instruction to learn about the Bible.
This is the 6th year for the Elida LifeWise Academy and their first year teaching high school students. Organizers say they will be reaching 750 students weekly through the academy.
"They come during an elective; at Elida, they've chosen library, so they will either go to library or they're signed up for LifeWise with their parents' permission," said Shelley Kerns, director of Elida LifeWise Academy. "When it's their library day, the teacher brings them down to us. We meet right outside the library, the library kids go to the library, we count and take attendance of our LifeWise kids. We either walk or take a bus, depending on the weather, to the Sunnydale house. We have them for about 40 minutes, teach them the gospel, and then we take attendance again. We load them back up either on the bus or walk them back to the school and we deliver them back to their teacher."
Religious courses taught to public school students has been constitutionally permitted since 1952 as long as instruction occurs off school property, run by private faith-based groups receiving no public funding and is entirely voluntary participation. You can log onto their website to learn more about the academy.
