There’s controversy over a Bible study program at Pierce Co. elementary schools
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- LifeWise Academy launched in Peninsula School District last fall and serves three schools.
- LifeWise had a total of 24 students signed up as of early May.
- Some parents have raised concerns about LifeWise with the district.
Less than a year after a faith-based nonprofit announced plans to offer Bible study classes to students from the Peninsula School District, the program has expanded to two other schools amid pushback from opponents who say it’s disruptive to the school day and blurs the boundary between church and state.
LifeWise Academy is an Ohio-based Christian organization that seeks to make Bible education accessible to public school students during school hours. Volunteers help run these classes across the country, hosting them off-campus typically during recess, lunch or specialist periods. All students must have a parent or guardian’s permission to participate in LifeWise, according to the nonprofit’s website.
The organization has grown rapidly since its founding in 2019. LifeWise reported in August that it would serve students in over 1,100 schools across 34 states this school year.
The News Tribune reported in August that LifeWise planned to begin serving Discovery Elementary students in the near future. A reporter confirmed that LifeWise launched their program last fall and have since added Artondale Elementary and Swift Water Elementary to their list.
LifeWise serves a total of 24 students across the three schools, Christine Czernejewski, a LifeWise public relations representative, wrote via email May 7.
The Peninsula School District has faced mounting pressure from some parents to stop LifeWise’s activities in its schools. Five people, including parents of current and former students, raised concerns about LifeWise at a school board meeting May 19.
A member of the Moms for Liberty Pierce County chapter spoke in favor of the program. Moms for Liberty is a national nonprofit that advocates for limited government and supporting parents’ rights in directing their children’s education. The group is known for taking an active role in endorsing school board candidates who align with their values, and for their conservative stances on critical race theory, sex education and other issues in public schools.
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As has been their practice this school year, the Peninsula school board invited members of the public to speak to them about any topic prior to their study session May 5. That day, 30 people came to speak with the board about LifeWise, one attendee, Discovery Elementary parent Jacquie Pinkerton, told The News Tribune.
Natasha Orlando, program director for the LifeWise Academy Gig Harbor chapter, and assistant director Marlys Johnson met with The News Tribune May 14 for an interview. Orlando emphasized that LifeWise seeks to minimize disruption to schools and spoke of the benefit of allowing kids access to religious instruction during the school day.
“Parents consistently express appreciation for the opportunity their children have to receive biblical instruction and character development during the school week while attending public school,” she wrote later in a follow-up email. “Some families have said the availability of LifeWise gave them peace and confidence in transitioning their children from private Christian education into the public school system because they knew their faith and family values would continue to be reinforced.”
Debates over LifeWise’s presence in public schools have played out in other school districts across the country, such as in Ohio and Kentucky, as reported by the Ohio Capital Journal and WPSD Local 6, a TV station that serves parts of several states including Kentucky.
LifeWise Academy points to a 1952 Supreme Court case, Zorach v. Clauson, that solidified support for what’s known as “released time religious instruction.” The case permitted New York City public schools to release students for religious instruction as long as those programs were hosted off school grounds, were privately-funded and required parental permission for children to participate.
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Last December, LifeWise sued Everett Public Schools in federal court, alleging that the district’s policies infringed on their First Amendment rights. The district allegedly refused LifeWise’s request to participate in a community fair and post flyers on school property, instituted a permission slip policy and required students to keep LifeWise materials in their backpacks. On April 24, United States District Judge Lauren King issued a preliminary injunction largely in favor of LifeWise, The Everett Herald reported. The case is ongoing.
First Liberty Institute, a law firm that focuses on religious liberty cases, is representing LifeWise in their lawsuit against Everett Public Schools. In an interview May 7, Jeremy Dys, senior counsel for First Liberty, spoke of the legal precedent from Zorach v. Clauson and other cases that support parents’ rights to direct their children’s religious upbringing.
“I think school districts in Washington should take a real careful look at that preliminary injunction (from the lawsuit), and understand that, though it applies to this school district, the logic and the law that is contained there in extends to their school districts as well,” Dys said.
How the program works
Orlando told The News Tribune that LifeWise began serving Discovery Elementary students around the end of September. They expanded to Artondale and Swift Water shortly after spring break, she said.
“Students participate one day per week during their lunch and recess period, which totals approximately 55 minutes, including transportation time,” according to LifeWise PR representative Czernejewski. “Each school’s program operates on a different day of the week (Monday, Wednesday, or Friday).”
LifeWise buses may return to the same school multiple times in one day. They pick up students in groups based on their lunch and recess period, according to Orlando.
Multiple parents shared photos with The News Tribune of the signature red buses that LifeWise programs use to pick up kids from school. Some parents allege they’ve seen the buses linger in school parking lots or drive laps. One parent, Jessica Gordon, said at the school board meeting May 19 that she witnessed a LifeWise bus sitting at Swift Water Elementary for more than 10 minutes.
Orlando denied those claims when speaking with The News Tribune. LifeWise operates on a tight timeline, and buses are at the schools just long enough to pick up students and then return them, she said. The buses don’t remain at the schools or circle the parking lot, and LifeWise coordinates with both parents and the district on the pick-up schedule, Orlando told The News Tribune. She estimated that the pick-up process takes just two to three minutes.
“Our intent is not to, again, be disruptive,” said Orlando. “It’s to come do what we’re there to do, grab the students who are coming with us and deliver them back on time.”
She said that kids who participate in LifeWise know to go straight to the office while other students are going to lunch and recess. Drop-off is similar. “We take them right back to the office, and they go right back to where they’re going,” said Orlando.
Each LifeWise class includes a Bible lesson and an activity, and each lesson is tied to a character trait, such as gratitude or obedience, that kids are encouraged to apply in their own lives, she told The News Tribune. Classes take place at churches and local businesses who partner with LifeWise.
Does LifeWise have plans to expand? Orlando said their plans are based on input from the community. If parents approach them with interest in starting a program for another school, they can facilitate that, she explained.
She also said their existing programs are open enrollment, so families can sign up their children anytime to participate through their website. Their classes are all free.
The Gig Harbor chapter is locally and privately funded, according to Orlando. The LifeWise Academy financials page says that local communities raise money to cover their own staff, transportation and supplies; the national organization manages those funds until they are spent locally.
District points to legal constraints
The Peninsula School District’s position on the program hasn’t changed since August, Chief of Schools Michael Farmer told The News Tribune in a phone call May 7.
“We respect parents’ rights to make decisions about their children, and that includes if they need to pull them out for the dentist, the doctor, or something like (LifeWise),” he said. “But with that, we really think kids should be in school all day, every day, 180 days a year, because school is only six and a half hours, and we want to maximize every minute of that time, if we can.”
Several parents told The News Tribune that they want the district to take more decisive action against the program.
Michael Wright, a parent of two kids at Artondale Elementary, told The News Tribune in a phone interview May 7 that he wants to see the district establish a clearer policy on how it will interact with organizations like LifeWise. He also said he’d like to see the district track and release data on the resources that schools are using to accommodate LifeWise.
“They’re not providing any structure or framework for these organizations to operate,” said Wright. “And so they’re treating them almost like it’s an individual parent picking up their kid, their child, right? But that’s clearly not what’s going on.”
Wright said he and his family moved from Florida about a year and a half ago. They moved to Washington state in part because they disagreed with the increasing influence of conservative groups in Florida’s public schools, he said.
“It just feels like the beginning of what we ended up leaving,” said Wright.
Crystal Wysowski, a parent of two kids at Swift Water, said she’d like the district to stop allowing LifeWise from operating in the district. She admitted that she isn’t a lawyer and understands that there are laws that may prevent the district from acting right away. In the meantime, she said, she wants to see more information from the district pushed out to families.
“ ... I feel like our school board could, in the interim, be educating people on what this is, instead of just continuously saying, ‘well, we can’t stop it,’” she said.
The district’s Chief of Schools Michael Farmer said May 7 that the district hasn’t put out much official information about LifeWise, but that they’ve had individual conversations with parents who’ve reached out. He reiterated that LifeWise is an outside organization and that parents give approval for their students to participate.
Asked if the district is watching the lawsuit in Everett Public Schools, Farmer said they’re aware of it. As he told parents at the public meeting prior to the board’s study session May 5, the district is “operating within the confines of what we understand is legal right now,” he said. Farmer said he told parents on May 5 that they could contact him or their principal with concerns.
Farmer wrote May 13 that the board and superintendent mentioned inviting their legal counsel to speak with parents at a future date, but that a meeting hadn’t been scheduled yet. “Please note that the board may also elect to discuss the situation with an attorney in an executive session, and executive sessions are not open to the public,” he wrote.
Pinkerton, the Discovery Elementary parent, told The News Tribune that parents who attended the May 5 board meeting expressed interest in talking with state lawmakers about their concerns. District spokesperson Shana Nash wrote in an email Friday that parents who inquired about a joint meeting received the following information:
“For those members of the community present at our Board/Public Forum on May 5, 2026, we heard your desire for a joint meeting with state lawmakers. Our legal counsel has advised that the district and board must remain neutral and cannot organize or sponsor this type of advocacy meeting. We will maintain our commitment to keep our legislative representatives informed of the thoughts, values, and concerns of the Peninsula community. That includes sharing the names of individuals who attended the board forum and expressed an interest in connecting with legislators.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 5:15 AM with the headline "There’s controversy over a Bible study program at Pierce Co. elementary schools."
