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

Aggressive Lifewise Academy committee member threatened me

I was not surprised to read Dean Narciso’s July 6 article about Lifewise Academy’s lawsuit against the parent who made their curriculum visible to the public.

As a Reynoldsburg school board member, I encountered similarly threatening behavior in 2022 from a Lifewise steering committee member.

First, though, came the charm.

Pastor Dave DiYanni came to our February meeting, stayed to the end, introduced himself to me afterward, then spent 20 minutes complimenting me on my board service.

He invited me to see a Lifewise class in action at a church in Whitehall, which I did a week later. The following month, Dave asked to meet me over coffee to find out when the board might pass the necessary policy to allow Lifewise into Reynoldsburg Schools.

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As a member of the policy committee, I said I couldn’t see myself recommending it to the rest of the board. Some highlights of our conversation afterward include the following: “Come on, ya gotta give me SOMETHING!”; “I don’t want to work against you"; and “As a church, we can’t endorse political candidates, but we can educate people.”

As we wrapped up, he alluded to crowds of unhappy Lifewise supporters that he could cause to pack a board meeting.

Neal Whitman, Reynoldsburg

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Reynoldsburg board member: Lifewise committee member threatened me