WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The Westerville City School Board is now considering changing its policy on religious release time.
If the board removes the policy, students will no longer be allowed to attend LifeWise Academy, a nonprofit that provides religious classes during the school day off-site. The district has had the policy since 2009.
Policy 5223 for Westerville City Schools allows absences for religious instruction, and LifeWise Academy is one of the programs that students can attend. It began in the district two years ago but may be removed if the policy is altered.
“I have significant concern about distraction caused by pulling kids out of school during the middle of the day,” said Westerville City School Board member Kristy Meyer.
LifeWise said it had about 300 students from Westerville in the program last year. This year so far, 120 students have signed up.
Meyer said she worries about the strain of resources for various programs.
“The potential strain on our resources with multiple programs operate school day ensuring legal compliance, and managing logistics of kids going and coming require significant staff and resources,” said Meyer.
Jennifer Jury is the program director for LifeWise Academy in Westerville City Schools. She said the board's discussion came as a surprise.
“The reason that we do it during the school day is because that makes it accessible to all the students without the parents needing to add something to their day where they're picking students up or dropping them off before or after school,” said Jury.
Jury said she believes LifeWise classes help students coming back into the school.
“We've heard feedback that the students come back more respectful, more ready to engage,” said Jury.
On the other side, Jaclyn Fraley is with Parents Against RTRI, or Religious Instruction Policies. Fraley agrees with the board members who want to get rid of the policy.
“We're not against LifeWise, we're against children leaving school,” said Fraley. “My family has very deep religious convictions, very deep faith. But we make sure that our daughter learns our religion, learns our faith at home.”
The Westerville City School Board will have its second reading at its next meeting. Then, the board will vote.