Riverside Local committee hears plan to pilot Lifewise release‑time instruction at Buckeye Elementary

Cardinal Programs Committee members heard a presentation about plans to pilot Lifewise, a release‑time religious instruction program, with a third‑grade cohort at Buckeye Elementary beginning this school year.

Tim Hack, who said he has stepped into the role of program director for Lifewise at Riverside, told the committee the pilot is scheduled to begin in November and will run one day a week during lunch/recess for one third‑grade class. "We are targeting that to start in November," Hack said. He said the program will meet off school property at the Church of the Brethren, a short walk from Buckeye, and that Lifewise will hire the teacher and recruit volunteers.

Hack described Lifewise as a national organization that launched in February 2019 and provides an established curriculum and operations model intended to make local implementation "plug and play." He said the organization requires, and will show the district, background checks for anyone working with students and carries its own insurance. "There is no insurance or liability on part of the district," Hack said, adding that the program is responsible for attendance…