Elmwood Local Schools Superintendent and BOE Use Teachers as Scapegoats
The Elmwood Local Schools Administration violated school board policies without accountability in their support of Lifewise Academy, while disciplining teachers who have committed the same actions.
Lifewise Academy in the Elmwood Local School District (Bloomdale, Ohio) began planning how to remove students from school during the day in the fall of 2021. The steering committee included Matt Reynolds, Nicole Gerkens, Kelsie Salyer, Andrea Morgart, André Laird, and Jeremie Pennington. Jeremie Pennington and Matt Reynolds contacted Superintendent Tony Borton in November 2021.
On January 14, 2022, Pennington and the Lifewise steering committee continued applying pressure to the district, requesting information, class schedules, and policy updates.
Pennington Is Appointed to the School Board
All this planning reached a turning point when a school board member resigned, and the board needed to select a replacement. Jeremie Pennington applied for the position and was hired on March 14, 2022. The following week, Pennington told a local news outlet that the school district would allow Lifewise to rent space on school property. “That is a huge savings for us,” Pennington said, indicating it would save money by renting space at the school. Pennington also said that the district met with attorneys to confirm it was “OK” to have the religious program on school property during the school day.
Pennington further stated that the district would send letters to students about Lifewise starting in the fall. He also mentioned that the board of education would vote next month to approve the released time policy, officially allowing Lifewise to operate in the district. Pennington said he was stepping away from the Lifewise committee to remove the conflict of interest. This was after the board had already agreed to pass the policy, send flyers to students, and rent a room to Lifewise.
This represented a blatant disregard for Ohio laws, Ohio Attorney General opinions, Federal Supreme Court cases, and the local school board policy.
For reference, here is a brief list of the legal reasons Elmwood is incorrect in permitting Lifewise on school property.
Ohio Attorney General Opinion 1988-001
“I shall consider first the question whether a board of education may, as a general matter, formulate and implement a policy that permits high school students to be excused from attendance during regular school hours for the purpose of receiving religious instruction off school property.”
Ohio Attorney General Opinion 2019-015
“You have requested an opinion about the implementation of a school district’s policy permitting students to be released from school to attend a course in religious instruction that is conducted by a private entity off school property.”
Ohio Revised Code 3313.6022 (A)
(A) As used in this section, "released time" means a period of time during which a student is excused from school to attend a course in religious instruction conducted by a private entity off school district property.
“so that they may leave the school buildings and grounds and go to religious centers for religious instruction or”
Students shall be provided "released time" during the school day to attend a course in religious instruction conducted by a private sponsoring entity that is provided off of District property.
Elmwood Local School District and Lifewise Academy established, from the outset, a lack of limits on coercion and integration, shaping how Lifewise would be promoted, favored, and prioritized over school staff and educational programs in favor of a religious Bible program.
Before Lifewise classes began, the school district provided a phone extension within the district-wide phone system and set up computers and printers. The district also added Lifewise staff to the district email service and included them in the Elmwood Staff email group.
In May 2022, a staff member asked Superintendent Borton which room they could use. Borton suggested that they look around the main building or share space with Health or Lifewise. Borton admitted there wouldn’t be much available for the staff member.
One year later, in May 2023, Borton responded to Lifewise Academy’s inquiry about renting a different room at the school district’s other building. Borton told Lifewise that a room would be available, giving them their own dedicated space. He also asked Lifewise twice to meet to view a possible new room they could rent and offered them furniture.
The contrast between the two interactions with Borton is striking. When a district-employed teacher asks for a room, Borton suggests they look around for an open space, possibly one they can share. When Lifewise asks about a room, they are offered a dedicated space and furniture.
This is in direct contradiction to the Elmwood Local School Board Policy “7510 - USE OF DISTRICT PREMISES AND MOTORIZED EQUIPMENT.”
This policy provides guidelines for community organizations using the school’s property. Read the full policy, but the sections related to what Lifewise is doing are,
“The Board of Education believes that the school premises should be made available for community purposes, provided that such use does not infringe on the original and necessary purpose of the property or interfere with the educational program of the schools.”
“D. community organizations or groups of individuals primarily comprised of District residents/members of the community, including students (during non-school hours) and employees (when not working in the scope of their employment) formed or gathered for charitable, civic, social, religious, recreational (e.g., indoor or outdoor games or physical activities, either organized or unorganized, that are undertaken for exercise, relaxation, diversion, sport, or pleasure), and/or educational purposes, provided such meetings and/or entertainment is nonexclusive and open to the general public.”
There is no excuse for the School Board or the Superintendent to ignore school policies and allow a released-time religious instruction program to operate on school property. Two school board policies clearly state that religious organizations must operate off school property during the school day, or during “non-school hours” if on school property. The school administration claims they consulted with their attorneys, but I doubt any attorney would have advised them to violate their own policies or state and federal laws.
Elmwood Teachers Promoting Lifewise in The School
In October 2023, Borton discussed a “Lifewise posting” with three staff members. Borton said the conversation is not disciplinary for now, and he hopes there will be no “legal action” resulting from it. He followed up those discussions with an email that included a letter.
“As a follow up to our meeting, LifeWise is allowed to take the students during the day if parents have signed up for this (Policy 5223-Released Time for Religious Instruction). Staff members should not encourage or discourage students and families from signing up for this outside activity that takes place during the school day. We must stay neutral. Staff members should not do anything that would encourage or show favoritism to religion, including wearing Life Wise clothing during the day.
By following these steps, we can remain neutral on the concept of Released Time for Religious Instruction.”
Tony Borton, Elmwood Local Schools Superintendent
Superintendent Borton was either advised or already aware that the school was violating neutrality requirements related to Lifewise Academy’s operation. These issues involved more than Lifewise; Borton also instructed staff not to promote before- or after-school programs like FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). On the same day as the Lifewise disciplinary event, Borton directed staff not to promote FCA in the morning announcements and reminded them that FCA is to be student-led, not teacher-led.
This email about FCA shows that teachers were trying to arrange substitutes so they could attend an FCA event. Read that again. School staff were requesting substitutes so they could attend a religious service on school property during the school day.
Lifewise Improves Academic Performance
The Elmwood teachers who advertised Lifewise claimed the program would improve the academic performance of students. This is the lie that won’t die from Lifewise. They claim a study they paid for supports this. It does not. The study said it was a “theory” that the academic performance would improve. Elmwood allowed students to miss Library to attend Lifewise. They also impacted speech and other therapy sessions. Here are emails stating this.
Here are the English/Language Arts scores for Elmwood Elementary students from the Ohio Student Recovery Dashboard. A 5% drop from 2022 to 2025. (Lifewise started in 2022) Is this caused by removing students from Library, speech, and other interventions? If scores in those areas were going down, I can’t imagine any educator would agree to remove students from instructional time focused on those areas. But Elmwood did.
Supreme Court Rulings
Lifewise Academy repeatedly insists that the Supreme Court case Zorach v. Clauson (1952) grants them the right to operate legally. While Zorach held that released time was legal, it also established many guidelines for how these programs can function. The most important, in my opinion — and the one Elmwood is repeatedly getting wrong — is the neutrality ruling of the case. The court’s opinion states that schools should remain neutral and not coerce or persuade students. The school should simply release students and neither support nor endorse the program, nor oppose it.
“The present record indeed tells us that the school authorities are neutral in this regard, and do no more than release students whose parents so request. If, in fact, coercion were used, if it were established that any one or more teachers were using their office to persuade or force students to take the religious instruction, a wholly different case would be presented.”
Teachers have persuaded students. School administration has done much more than just create a policy to release students at a parent’s request. The school has provided facilities, logistical support, advertising, marketing, and numerous other resources, all made available by the publicly funded school system.
“Here not only are the State’s tax-supported public school buildings used for the dissemination of religious doctrines. The State also affords sectarian groups an invaluable aid in that it helps to provide pupils for their religious classes through use of the State’s compulsory public school machinery. This is not separation of Church and State.”
McCollum ruled that religious instruction cannot occur on public school property during school hours. The Elmwood school board policies reflect this legal ruling, and Ohio state law also supports it. The Ohio Attorney General has issued multiple opinions backing this. Despite that, Elmwood continues to violate all of these rules. The Elmwood school administration has reprimanded staff for actions they are also guilty of.
Who will hold them accountable?