Dr. Sheri Hardman, Superintendent at Oak Hill School Corp., spoke with the Chronicle-Tribune this week, following Wednesday’s story about this month’s school board meeting.
On Monday, Jan. 13, the Oak Hill school board received a presentation from the LifeWise Academy. Dr. Hardman was not present during the presentation.
The LifeWise Academy program is a religious release time program that would occur during the school day. The volunteers and teachers of this program would shuttle students to an offsite location to learn more about the Bible and character building.
Originally, it was reported that this academy would be an after-school program; Hardman clarified this is not the case. If Oak Hill agrees to the program, it would occur during the school day instructional time.
“The difference between this type of program and an after-school program, is that it occurs during the school day,” Hardmand told the Chronicle-Tribune.
Administrators’ hesitation
Hardman said she and the other administrators talked with LifeWise during their first meeting about how the program schedule would look.
According to LifeWise, the program would involve taking students to an offsite location in the middle of the day and bringing them back to school.
“They (LifeWise) would want to bus students during the day to a church that is across from our admin building,” Hardman said. “They (the students) would spend about an hour there getting their character education or their lessons, and then [LifeWise] would bus them back.”
At Oak Hill Jr. High, they have eight classes during the school day. Hardman said if LifeWise Academy were to be a program there, it could cut into instructional time during two different classes.
In an elementary school setting, LifeWise would be cutting into class time for the arts, music and physical education departments, she added.
At the junior high level at Oak Hill, they don’t have that sort of schedule, thus cutting into regular school instruction time.
“As an educator, that’s where I am hesitant,” Hardman said.
School administrators and board members shared reservations about LifeWise was discussed during the school board meeting. The board and Hardman said they would like to know the “why” behind the program and who LifeWise would be employing to work with Oak Hill’s students.
According to Hardman, LifeWise is hesitant to share the content of the curriculum due to copyright reasons, making it harder for school administrators to know what the students are learning.
Hardman feels the school shouldn’t have anything to do with the LifeWise program. She is concerned Oak Hill would be responsible and liable for the actions of LifeWise and the security of the students while they are attending LifeWise during the school day.
“I didn’t approve it when they (LifeWise) first approached me. It was much bigger than my decision,” Hardman told the Chronicle-Tribune. That is why LifeWise was presented to the school board Monday.
‘I value their time at school’
When LifeWise was being presented to Hardman and other administration, Oak Hill administrators asked if this could be an after-school program. Hardman said they believe students would benefit a lot more if LifeWise were to be an after-school program rather than it occurring during the school day.
“As a school administrator, I hate when kids have to be out of school for anything, even my own children,” Hardman said. “I value their time at school. When we have them here (the students), I want them to be engaged in what we have here.”
Hardman told the Chronicle-Tribune that LifeWise does not offer their program as something that can occur after school. They only operate during the school day.
Indiana Code § 20-33-2-19 and Indiana Code Title 20. Education § 20-33-12-4 are relevant to religious release time in Indiana, allowing programs like LifeWise to operate during school time.
The stipulations of these codes are that there has to be a time limit, parental consent and taught by a third-party organization.
“As a school, I don’t want our kids leaving, and missing out on things for any reason. I am not opposed to character education at all, and more children can use more of it because of the outside influences of social media, especially those at the junior high level,” Hardman said.
LifeWise said that there would be no responsibility on the Oak Hill teachers and faculty, but Hardman feels that there is.
She said teachers would have to make sure that the right students are coming and going from this program, and return to their designated classes at the right point in time. Teachers would also have to keep track of what the students missed during their classes, and then would have to make sure that the students make up the work as well.
‘Not ideal for us at all’
Although Hardman was not at Monday’s school board meeting, she received a copy of the presentation LifeWise presented.
Hardman confirmed with the Chronicle-Tribune that neither she nor the Oak Hill School Board had agreed to the LifeWise Academy proposal, although LifeWise’s presentation made it sound like it was a done deal.
“Nothing has been decided, and had I been there, then I would’ve pointed that out,” Hardman said. “When we talked, we (administrators) said that this was not ideal for us at all.”
Hardman feels having a program like this after school would benefit students who may go home alone to just their social media devices, or may not have a great home life.
However, because LifeWise would not support an after-school program, Hardman doesn’t know if this would be a good fit within the Oak Hill Jr. High community.
The Oak Hill School Board meets again Feb. 10 and have further discuss the LifeWise program.