Off-campus religious class not new at local schools

FINDLAY — Students receiving religious instruction off-campus during public school hours is not a new concept — at least in Hancock County, where the Hancock County Religious Education Association has been operating since 1944. HCREA currently serves over 600 students in the Arlington, Arcadia, Cory-Rawson, McComb and Vanlue school districts, and as of this school year, in Donnell Middle School in Findlay. "HCREA is a privately-funded Ohio nonprofit organization that operates for the purpose of providing released time religious instruction to Hancock County public school students," said Susan Fink-Treece, a 10-year member of HCREA and current board treasurer. "Parents of students in participating schools and grade levels have the choice to enroll their students in this optional program held off school grounds, with classes typically held once weekly or biweekly at a time that does not conflict with core curriculum." A student attending an HCREA release time religious instruction (RTRI) class will sing songs, play games and study the Bible both "academically and devotionally," Fink-Treece said. Instruction time involves Bible lessons with goals to improve reading, comprehension and memorization skills, she said. Bus drivers that transport the students to the class location are CDL-licensed and go through a hiring process that includes applications, interviews and background checks. Dietrich Worthman, a Methodist minister from Germany, established the HCREA when he realized "that not all children had the opportunity to hear the 'good news' of the gospel," explains the organization's website. Worthman died in 1975 at the age of 90. The HCREA asks permission from school officials to establish their program in a district after gaining community support, Fink-Treece said. It has the largest presence in the McComb school district, where approximately 130 students from kindergarten through third grade are enrolled in the program. "(The students) do not miss any instruction," said McComb Superintendent Jeremy Herr in an email. "Volunteers transport the students on their bus. The elementary secretary and the HCREA coordinator each track attending students." The HCREA has been in the McComb school district since 2019, "however," Herr added, "we have had some form of religious education since before my time at McComb (1997)." Ohio House Bill 171, passed in September 2014, cemented the presence of release time religious education programs in the Ohio education system. According to Section 3313.6022 of the Ohio Revised Code, a school district's board of education can adopt a policy authorizing students to be excused from school to attend an RTRI course, as long as the student's parent or guardian gives written consent, the sponsoring entity maintains attendance records and makes them available to the school district the student attends, transportation to and from the place of instruction, including transportation for students with disabilities, is the complete responsibility of the sponsoring entity, parent, guardian or student, the sponsoring entity makes provisions for and assumes liability for the student, no public funds are expended and no public school personnel are involved in providing the religious instruction, and the student assumes responsibility for any missed schoolwork. Students cannot be released from a "core curriculum subject course to attend a religious instruction course," the ORC continues. LifeWise Academy, a Hilliard, Ohio based organization providing RTRI classes for students, has also established itself in Hancock County, as well as in many other counties across the state. LifeWise operates similarly to the HCREA, bussing students off campus for religious instruction. Liberty-Benton, Findlay City and Van Buren school districts have active LifeWise programs. LifeWise is not established in any of the districts the HCREA is established in. Fink-Treece says LifeWise reached out to the HCREA before organizing in the Hancock County area. "HCREA is grateful to have help in reaching children with the hope that the Gospel brings," Fink-Treece said. "We, like LifeWise's forerunner program and many other released time organizations in Ohio and across the nation, are affiliated with School Ministries, the nation's largest released time organization, established since 1991. HCREA and other School Ministries Ohio programs are successfully coexisting with LifeWise in a growing number of communities."