Olive Elementary School allows students to leave campus for bible study program

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- An off-campus bible class is coming to Olive Elementary. Starting this school year, students at Olive Elementary can leave school once a week to attend bible class through LifeWise Academy, a religious program held off-site.

Under Indiana law, public schools are allowed to let students leave campus for religious education, as long as it meets specific guidelines such as taking place off school grounds and not using school funding or staff.

LifeWise will be held once a week for 45 minutes during students' specials time, like art, music, or PE, and not during core academic subjects.

New Prairie United School Corporation Superintendent Paul White says this is not a school-sponsored program, nor is it funded by the school, and it's completely voluntary.

“It is our understanding talking to those local LifeWise volunteers and leaders that it is their hope, long term, to expand the program to all of our schools, but they intend to start at all of elementary this school year,” White said.

But, before giving the go ahead, Dr. White says they had to work through some safety concerns.

"Our school board, had concerns about the national LifeWise organization, not necessarily our local volunteers, but the national LifeWise organization had communicated this summer that they run background checks on the LifeWise volunteers, but they do not share those background check results with local school systems that those volunteers work in, White said.

He says New Prairie communicated those concerns to parents and made it clear they wouldn't move forward unless a solution was found.

Local LifeWise volunteers offered a solution: to share full background check results directly with the district and will continue to do so every year.

"Those background checks are actually very rigorous. They're on the same level as the employee checks that we run on our own employees. So when we found that, and as long as the local volunteers here continue to give us those background checks themselves, and they do it yearly, we have no issue, and we're comfortable with that part of the process now,” White said.

The first LifeWise classes are expected to begin after Labor Day.

Transportation will be provided by LifeWise.