Patrick Henry Integrates Lifewise Into the District

Lifewise in the Patrick Henry Local District was aware of their negative impact on the school and students for years but continued to push for more instruction time to be removed from the school.

Patrick Henry Local Schools in Hamler, Ohio, has indicated that since Lifewise Academy began, they have struggled to meet the needs of students with IEPs, and students in general have fallen behind on their homework and studies. The principal of the middle school contacted the Lifewise Academy directly to tell her that Lifewise was impacting the students’ and the school’s ability to meet their educational requirements. See the email below.

The principal said she was open to ideas for solving the problem. It is hard to convey, in writing, how ignorant this message is, but I’ll try. What the *&%$! The principal contacted the outside organization whose mission is to remove students from school during the school day and asked how they can get the time students are missing back. The principal is responsible for the education of all the students in the middle school, and she cannot think of a solution to the school's lack of time for students.

A week later, the principal emailed Lifewise again, stating that a student was falling behind in school, in part, because of Lifewise.

Lifewise Academy says, “They come alongside administrators and teachers to support their mission of serving students.” The actions of Lifewise staff at the Patrick Henry schools show that Lifewise's focus is on removing students from school to attend Bible classes, not on supporting their education.

The timing of this email was before Ohio changed its law requiring schools to have a policy and to collaborate with religious programs like Lifewise. The school had more options than it does currently, yet nothing was done. The following school year, the principal met with Lifewise and told them that students with IEPs would be considered on a case-by-case basis for attendance at Lifewise. See email below.

Less than one month after the principal said she would make a determination on whether students could miss IEP services, she had a conversation with teachers about students not meeting their IEP service minutes. The principal verified that the IEPs would be modified to reduce the number of minutes to meet the IEPs' requirements. It is not known if the parents approved these changes to the IEPs. A record request has been sent to the district for this information. If it becomes available, the article will be updated. Read the email exchange below.

The Patrick Henry Local Schools have been allowing Lifewise to negatively impact the education of students. The administrators say this, and the teachers say this.

Patrick Henry Schools Not Following Their Own Policies

The Patrick Henry administration has been coordinating with Lifewise to break Ohio law and their own school board policies. Ohio law states:

(3) 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 school board policy states:

“Transportation of students to and from Released Time instruction is the sole responsibility of the sponsoring entity, the parent, guardian, and/or student. The Board of Education, its members, and employees are immune from liability for any injuries arising from transportation to and from Released Time instruction. Further, no Board funds will be expended for, and no District personnel shall be involved in the provision of religious instruction.”

The school district has allowed Lifewise to use the district’s buses and drivers. The first agreement was signed in January 2024 and renewed in May 2025. The state law and local school policies state that transportation is completely the responsibility of Lifewise.

The original contract was for $2.14/mile and $32/hour. The renewed contract in 2025 dropped the hourly fee and raised the mileage fee to $3.50/mile. Lifewise requested that the district drop the hourly fee, and the district agreed.

Public school districts can enter into contracts with non-profit organizations, but state law requires that released time programs be fully responsible for transportation. This provision was meant to stop schools and public funds from being used to facilitate the program. Patrick Henry has ignored this.

Emails showing Lifewise using district buses.

A records request for all invoices and payments between Lifewise Academy and the district has been submitted. This article will be updated as more information is available.

School Staff Supporting Lifewise

During the elementary and middle school open houses, public school staff facilitated the setup of tables for Lifewise staff and distributed signs, postcards, and flyers throughout the school and to each classroom.

A student who had been un-enrolled from Lifewise was incorrectly sent several times to Lifewise the following year. After the error was discovered, the Lifewise staff tried to contact the student’s parent, but they did not have the correct phone number. The school staff provided Lifewise with the current phone number to enroll the child. The school disclosed private information that no one from the public should have access to. Read the email exchange below.

Patrick Henry Schools are ignoring the biggest part of the Supreme Court case that made released time legal. The schools must be neutral regarding the religious program. The Supreme Court case states:

There is a suggestion that the system involves the use of coercion to get public school students into religious classrooms. There is no evidence in the record before us that supports that conclusion. 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.

Zorach v. Clauson (1952)

The district has supported Lifewise logistically and financially. They have modified IEPs to keep students in Lifewise and have allowed the use of school equipment, resources, and staff time. Lifewise Academy and the schools are not neutral. Lifewise has a negative impact on students’ ability to complete schoolwork and on the school's ability to provide the full instruction they have agreed to.

Lifewise Asked The Schools to Support Its Legislation

The superintendent had several exchanges with the Lifewise director. These included Lifewise asking the school to support their lobbying efforts. The superintendent indicated that any legislation to force the schools to provide more time for religious instruction would have a negative impact on the schools.

The legislation Lifewise lobbied for was passed at the end of 2024. Lifewise also helped secure more legislation in the 2025 Ohio budget bill. This forced schools to set aside 33 periods to remove students for religious studies. Lifewise has forced the schools to coordinate with them, and they are now using that as leverage to get more instruction time removed from students. The superintendent had only negative things to say about this legislation. Full email (PDF)

Angel-

Yes, the budget bill did contain some language about RTRI. It states districts must prohibit at least 33 hours a year. I have no idea how we, or any district, would be able to do that without major schedule overhauls.

The budget does not become law until mid October.

I have no idea how we will be able to make this work. The program design is a partnership between the provider and the district. We will need some time to even develop options for any grade above 4th grade.

We will be in touch.

Thanks,

Josh Biederstedt
Patrick Henry Local Schools, Superintendent

The Lifewise director, Angel Henry, replied with options that all required the school to adjust schedules or remove students from more instructional time. Lifewise did not offer to compromise with the school.

Josh,

I am sorry to hear that this bill has passed and is making things so difficult for the district. Our goal is to be a blessing to the families and the school staff as we work in partnership to do what is best for the students.

I have been in prayer over how to move forward with this news knowing 1) the school can no longer deny RTRI to any grade, and 2) We have a program that is successful and wanted in this community and 3) We do not want to force anything on the school or come in as demanding or ungrateful in any way. It is my heart and the heart of my board to bless the school while blessing the students.

With that said, I have some questions.

We completed the year with 5th grade last year during study hall. Are you saying we will not be able to continue in August with that schedule? When I met with Kayleen in May, we discussed sticking with the study hall opt-out for LifeWise classes for 5th and 6th grades. We would take the Tuesday and Wednesday Study Hall blocks, with 6th coming at 1:20 and 5th coming at 2:15. I understand you may need to do a complete schedule overhaul to meet the new requirements but I imagine students will still be having these study halls until that overhaul is completed. Is that still on the table?

If we have to have 33 hours per year, would that mean the elementary schedule would be changing to provide 1 full hour for Lifewise?

We usually start the second week of school and leave off at the end of April. This year, that will be 33 weeks of LifeWise Classes. For Middle School, this may need to look different, with state testing being in April. We can certainly work around that schedule to meet their needs and come back after state testing.

There are a lot of options already working for middle schools all across the state of Ohio and across America. Those include 9-week classes run like any other special, added as an option to their specials list. Combining Pats+Lunch to make a one-hour class once a week. Opting out of a year-long special once per week for the year. We have gone with opting out of study hall once per week, which I think has worked well.

I look forward to working with you to provide this educational opportunity for our district.

Angel Henry
Director

The Lifewise director saying she is sorry for the passing of the legislation is hilarious. The organization she works for lobbied for this legislation. Every dollar donated to Patrick Henry helped fund the efforts of Lifewise to lobby the legislature and get these laws changed. The phone call is coming from within the house! Lifewise has the ability to take time away from schools, and schools are now left to figure it out. There is no actual evidence that Lifewise improves the school in any way. The schools are now fully functioning as marketing tools for a religious organization.

Lifewise has publicly said they want to see public schools abolished, and this is the start, take away the schools’ time.