What is LifeWise? What to know about the group teaching the Bible during school hours

LifeWise Academy is a Hilliard-based Christian nonprofit that teaches public school children the Bible during school hours, with over 30,000 students nationwide enrolled in the program.

Here's what to know about LifeWise:

What is LifeWise?

LifeWise, founded in 2018, is a division of Stand for Truth, an event-based nonprofit ministry with a mission to reach public school students. It offers Bible education during school hour that is off school property, privately funded and parent-permitted, often during an elective class period.

More: LifeWise fires new school director after past sexting scandal with students comes to light

The organization has been at the center of several notable Columbus-area stories in recent weeks. It is suing a former Ohio man for copyright infringement, claiming he improperly uploaded and shared proprietary instructional materials with families. It is retrofitting a former Hilliard scuba facility to house its operations.

And this week the organization fired Renee Beck, who had been slated to serve as director of a program launching in the Firelands Local School District in northeast Ohio. Beck had been fired from her previous job in 2018 at Loudonville High School, part of the Loudonville-Perrysville Exempted Village School District, after the board voted to terminate her employment as a result of a "report of her serious misconduct and abuse of a minor student," according to the Wooster Daily Record.

In a statement, a spokesperson for LifeWise said that when the nonprofit first learned about the allegations against Beck, it "immediately placed her on administrative leave and investigated the matter."

Also this summer, LifeWise founder Joel Penton testified in favor of House Bill 445, which would require public school districts to excuse students for off-campus religious instruction.

Penton said during a hearing on the bill that the organization works with 200 schools across Ohio and 23 school districts have turned down LifeWise Academy in Ohio.

"As we all know, some parents remove their children from public school to send them to private Christian school or home school, often for the purpose of providing religious instruction," Penton said. "This is simply not feasible for all families. But that does not mean that parents don’t want religious instruction for their children."

LifeWise is also currently rennovating a former Hilliard scuba-diving facility once home to an 18-foot deep pool, which will become the headquarters for the nonprofit when completed, The Dispatch previously reported. LifeWise purchased the former Aquatic Adventures building located by Interstate 270 off Cemetery Road in Hilliard for nearly $3 million.

Earlier LifeWise coverage of program

LifeWise was the subject of an earlier in-depth article on the program by the USA TODAY Ohio Network.

‘Give them hope’: How Bible study is becoming part of the day for some public school kids

Related | School board member: Scandal not surprising. Lifewise Academy committee member came at me.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: LifeWise Academy teaches the Bible during school hours