Everett off-campus Bible program draws mixed reaction from parents

EVERETT — Every Tuesday and Wednesday, the red bus comes back to Emerson Elementary.

It’s decorated with branding for LifeWise Academy, an optional Bible education program that pulls students out of public school during the day for classes. The program is legally permitted under a little-known 1952 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows for off-site religious instruction during the school day.

Emerson Elementary and Everett Public Schools don’t endorse the program or use public resources to assist it. LifeWise classes take place at New Hope Assembly, just a few blocks away from the elementary school.

Parents who send their children to LifeWise say it is a welcome addition to their children’s day, allowing them to learn about Christianity without having to take time out of their busy days. The classes take place during recess and lunch.

“It has been great for us because our son is learning how to grow his mind and his spirit,” wrote Geydon Gezahegne, a parent whose child, a student at Emerson, attends LifeWise, in a testimonial to the nonprofit. “Having it during the day has made it a part of his everyday life, and that has been crucial for his growth, which we find incredibly valuable.”

Some parents at Emerson Elementary, though, worry about religious education taking place in the middle of a public school day and possible disruptions for students.

“Why is it public school? Why is it elementary school?” Jennifer Phillips McLellan, a parent whose child attends Emerson, said. “Because they’re vulnerable and impressionable.”

‘Finding strength in each other’

LifeWise operates at more than 600 schools across the country. Most are based in Ohio, where the program was founded in 2019.

The nonprofit has also grown significantly over the past few years. According to IRS filings, the organization’s revenue grew from about $6.5 million in 2021 to $13.9 million in 2022 and to $37.7 million in 2023.

The program’s launch near Emerson Elementary on Jan. 15 was the first time LifeWise opened in the Puget Sound region. Around the same time, a LifeWise program opened in Spokane, and another launched in Aberdeen soon after. LifeWise organizers are currently working on obtaining school approval to open a program for children at the Northshore School District, according to a LifeWise webpage.

LifeWise’s local co-directors, Darcie Hammer and Sarah Sweeny, started the program in Everett as a way to incorporate biblical principles into education for children whose parents can’t afford private Christian school, the two said in an interview Monday. LifeWise is tuition-free.

The classes teach lessons from the Bible and how children can relate them to their everyday lives. The lessons are based on character education, teaching qualities like respect, kindness, love and gratitude, Sweeny said.

“We can see that in our students, they’re really finding strength in each other,” Hammer said. “We aim to support students in building that strong character and belief in God that will carry them through life, help them be a positive role model and build positive relationships that encourage each other to make good choices.”

McLellan and Dana Sanders, two parents who oppose LifeWise, and whose children attend Emerson, have either taught religious education or sent their children to religious classes. But those took place after school or on the weekends. They worry midday religious lessons could bleed into the classroom, even if LifeWise takes place offsite.

“It’s one thing for me to pick up my kid for a doctor’s appointment or Ash Wednesday services or Yom Kippur … It’s another thing for a batch of kids to leave on a field trip, which is what it is,” Sanders said. “They leave, they go on a special shuttle with the bright red, then they come back in the middle of the day. And any parent who has sent their child on a field trip will know that kids can’t shut up for the rest of the day. That’s all they talk about.”

‘Birthday party invitations’

The Daily Herald reviewed hundreds of emails exchanged between LifeWise representatives and employees at Everett Public Schools since November 2023. They show Hammer and Sweeny spent more than a year working to open the program while school officials set boundaries as to how the organization could promote itself to parents and students.

In emails, Hammer and Sweeny looked to inform teachers at Emerson about the program, as they anticipated parents would ask teachers questions about it. They also sought permission for students to distribute contact information or LifeWise flyers to others during the school day.

“We also want to get permission for students to hand out flyers to their classmates during soft start or at pack up time, similar to when teachers allow students to pass out birthday party invitations,” Hammer wrote.

In responses, Emerson Elementary Principal Blythe Young wrote that students are not allowed to distribute material promoting religion on behalf of groups of people who are not students. Since the program does not take place at the school and is not endorsed by it, teachers are also not expected to answer questions about it, Young wrote.

Children at Emerson Elementary don’t distribute any materials related to LifeWise, Sweeny said. The nonprofit promotes itself through Peachjar, an online platform that shares school-related events to parents. The flyer contains a disclaimer, which explains that LifeWise is not recommended or endorsed by Everett Public Schools.

Students who take items back to school from LifeWise lessons are also instructed to keep them in sealed envelopes and promptly place them in their backpacks, Hammer said.

But not all children have, according to parents at Emerson. Sanders’ daughter saw a student return with a LifeWise Bible and its illustrations made it look “like a comic book,” she said.

“It looks like they’re getting treats,” Sanders said.

‘Trying to find a loophole’

Supreme Court case law prohibits schools from leading classes in prayer or persuading students to take part in religious activities. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibits the government from establishing an official religion or taking actions that favor one religion over another.

A 1952 Supreme Court ruling, however, allows for offsite religion education during school days. The court ruled in Zorach v. Clauson that a released time program in New York was constitutional because it was off school property, did not use public funding and required parental approval. The same Supreme Court ruling allows parents to excuse their children from school for religious holidays.

Washington does not have a released-time statute for religious instruction. But teachers are allowed to dismiss students to offsite religious instruction as long as the schools do not encourage or discourage participation in those activities, an Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction guide reads. District policy also concurs.

“A student, upon the request of a parent/guardian, may be excused to participate in religious instruction for a portion of a school day provided the activity is not conducted on school property and provided that the student’s regular educational program is not disrupted. Credit shall not be granted for such instruction,” a district policy on religious activity reads.

LifeWise takes place during the school day to incorporate faith and biblical principles into children’s education during the school week, the local co-directors said. Many families at Emerson Elementary, Hammer said, also work more than one job and aren’t able to provide transportation to outside programs like religious classes.

“Because it’s offered during the school day, it removes all barriers, it ensures equal access and opportunity for all students,” she said.

While Supreme Court precedent and district policy allow released-time religious instruction programs, some local religious leaders argue LifeWise goes against the spirit of the law.

“This is something that is trying to find a loophole in the separation of church and state, as opposed to creating more fences that protect the purpose of that initial law,” said Brett Weisman, a rabbi at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Bellevue.

Sanders and McLellan said the responses from Young, Emerson’s principal, were positive and created a “framework that protects our children as much as possible,” Sanders said. But the two want Everett Public Schools to set more specific guidelines for released-time religious instruction.

Everett Public Schools representatives were unavailable for interviews, district spokesperson Harmony Weinberg wrote in an email Wednesday.

“Everett Public Schools does not partner with Lifewise Academy and neither endorses nor opposes that program or any other religious program,” Weinberg wrote in a statement. “Further, LifeWise Academy is not operating at Emerson Elementary School. Lifewise Academy is a separate organization that provides religious instruction at a local church. There are students at Emerson Elementary who are released from school to access religious instruction at the request of their parents in accordance with district policy and procedure.”

‘Numbers, letters and theology’

For Hammer and Sweeny, LifeWise represents more than just classes. Their goal is to create community, reduce youth violence and increase learning opportunities for children. LifeWise promotional materials cite studies that show having religious beliefs can correlate with improved mental health and educational performance.

Many parents who send their children to LifeWise say the program has already made a difference in their children’s lives.

“For many Christians, there is a lack of faith integration into the everyday part of living; faith is for Sundays,” wrote Anna Southworth, a parent of a kindergarten student at Emerson who attends LifeWise, in a testimonial to the nonprofit. “Our daughter gets to experience her faith being a part of her school day and the natural integration means that she’s learning ALL the important things: numbers, letters, and theology.”

LifeWise is not affiliated with a specific denomination of Christianity, its website says. But LifeWise’s curriculum — which can be reviewed online for 48 hours at a time — is used as part of a licensing agreement with LifeWay Christian Resources, a publishing entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant organization in the United States.

That connection has led to concerns from some over the program’s perspectives on LGBTQ+ issues. The Southern Baptist Convention prohibits churches from affirming, approving or endorsing homosexuality, according to the organization’s constitution. The organization also passed a resolution in 2023 denouncing gender-affirming care.

Tim Feiertag, a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Everett, said his main concern about LifeWise is its disruption to the school day, but his secondary concern is “the right-wing encroachment on public education,” he said.

“As an out gay man, it’s important to me that public education works for the broadest expanse of our society,” Feiertag said.

As a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, former Reverend Carol Jensen said she sees LifeWise as an example of a larger political movement to instill Christian values in public institutions.

“We are in a time where key leaders of the of the government right now do believe in making this a Christian nation and believe that Christianity should have priority, and that our institutions should be shaped in in light of that,” Jensen said.

The nonprofit is non-political, it says on its website, but its founder, Joel Penton, appeared on a podcast in 2023 hosted by The Daily Signal, a conservative publication created by The Heritage Foundation. (The publication became independent in 2024.) The Heritage Foundation was the organization behind Project 2025, a presidential policy guide outlining a right-wing blueprint for reshaping the federal government.

Sweeny said LifeWise does not teach about sexuality in its lessons. The nonprofit “welcomes kids from all backgrounds,” Sweeny said, and if children ask teachers specific questions about LGBTQ+ topics, the teacher refers them to speak with their parents.

“If one of our students were to ask that question, we would simply tell them that’s something your parents need to answer,” Sweeny said.

‘An emotional toll’

Parents who oppose the program worry it could cause division between the 44 students who are enrolled in LifeWise and the rest of the students in Emerson Elementary.

“You can’t say that it doesn’t have an emotional toll on the children who are left behind,” McLellan said.

But LifeWise organizers say they’re building community, not breaking it down. Local donations fully funded the materials and buses the group uses, showing that there are people in the area that back the nonprofit’s mission, Sweeny said. And at the end of the day, the lessons emphasize being kind to other children, not being cruel, she added.

“We are sending students back to school encouraging them to show love, kindness, respect (and more) to their teachers and classmates,” Sweeny wrote in an email Thursday. “We believe instilling these character qualities is something everyone in the community can stand behind and that we may have more common ground with those concerned parents than is realized.”

Even still, Dana Sanders said their daughter gets anxious on Wednesdays when she sees the children in her class walk in with red LifeWise T-shirts every week. McLellan, whose children are close friends with Sanders’, worried students from LifeWise would see Sanders’ daughter differently because she has two mothers.

Once, Sanders’ daughter came home and was visibly relieved, they said. Only one child had worn their LifeWise shirt that day. But their daughter knows the buses, the T-shirts, the Bibles, will come back next week.

“Maybe it doesn’t rise to the level of bullying,” Sanders said. “But she knows Wednesdays.”

Will Geschke: 425-339-3443; william.geschke@heraldnet.com; X: @willgeschke.

Jenna Peterson: 425-339-3486; jenna.peterson@heraldnet.com; X: @jennarpetersonn.