When public school districts approve released-time religious instruction programs, families are usually told a very simple story.

Students may leave campus, with parental permission, to receive religious instruction elsewhere. The public school does not teach the religion. The public school does not fund the religion. The public school does not provide the building, the transportation, or the infrastructure. The program is “off campus,” “privately funded,” and legally separate from the school itself.

That is the theory.

But in Plymouth, Ohio, the public records tell a much more complicated story.

The records show a LifeWise Academy project moving alongside public school approvals, district-owned land discussions, survey work, zoning approvals, sewer and water planning, transportation conversations, legal review of sanitation-line access, and ultimately the transfer of public school land to a nonprofit whose own incorporation documents state it exists “exclusively for religious purposes.”

This is not simply a parent arranging for a child to leave school for Bible instruction.

The records suggest a religious instruction program being physically and operationally built around public school infrastructure.

And the public deserves to know how it happened.

The public-facing promise: separation

Before the Plymouth-Shiloh school district officially approved LifeWise, their paperwork framed the arrangement in familiar released-time language.

In a December 2021 acceptance letter, the Superintendent stated the district would not provide transportation, would not aid or assist attendance, and would not use public funds or public school personnel to provide religious instruction; pursuant to the Board’s Release Time Religious Instruction policy.

Those assurances matter because they are the legal and ethical guardrails districts rely on when approving released-time programs.

However SEA has previously documented that LifeWise provides school officials with an introductory email from CEO Joel Penton with a “resources” packet attached, which includes a “Sample Superintendent Acceptance Letter.”

So when Plymouth-Shiloh’s paperwork used this familiar language of separation, SEA knew to look closely. And sure enough, the same packet was given to district officials.

Because LifeWise was not just asking districts for access.

It was also providing districts with the language they could use to reassure the public that the program was separate from the school.

But the records that follow raise serious questions about whether those guardrails matched reality; or whether the promise of separation depended on public school access, public school systems, and public school cooperation all along.

January 2022: LifeWise is approved

On January 12, 2022, the Plymouth-Shiloh Board of Education approved participation in a LifeWise Academy released-time program for the 2022–2023 school year.

But the effort to bring LifeWise into Plymouth-Shiloh does not appear to originate solely from outside churches or independent community organizers.

According to publicly available records and organizational materials, two early local figures involved in bringing LifeWise to Plymouth were Susan Hammon, a librarian at Plymouth Elementary, and Benjamin Garrett, a third-grade teacher in the same building.

In addition to their employment with the district, Ben Garrett was serving as the Board President for LifeWise/Viking Character Academy while Susan Hammon served as Board Secretary. Not only were these individuals serving on the local LifeWise board, they were both listed as the main contacts for district administration in regards to the program as shown in the initial Logistical Proposal sent by Joel Penton as part of the “enclosed resources” packet.

That overlap matters because it complicates the district’s public-facing separation narrative.

The district’s acceptance language emphasized that public school personnel were not involved in providing religious instruction, something that is also dictated by Ohio’s Release Time law.

Yet records later show a district teacher communicating about land acquisition, survey work, and the proposed purchase of district-owned property for the LifeWise project while using his Plymouth-Shiloh Elementary email and signature block.

The question is no longer simply whether students left campus for Bible instruction.

The question is how deeply public school personnel were involved in building the infrastructure that made the program possible.

The timeline accelerates almost immediately

Just twelve days after the district approved LifeWise, a January 24, 2022 zoning certificate listed “LifeWise Plymouth-Shiloh” as landowner for property at 400–420 Trux Street, with Benjamin Garrett listed as applicant. The proposed use was nonprofit, with a planned building footprint and seating capacity already identified.

That timing raises immediate questions.

If the district approved LifeWise on January 12, how was LifeWise already appearing as landowner on zoning paperwork by January 24?

February 21, 2022 district board meeting minutes state that Benjamin Garrett presented documents regarding the potential purchase of more than half an acre from the district for construction of a LifeWise building directly off the district campus.

At that point, the project was no longer merely a released-time program.

It involved a proposed transfer of public school land for construction of a dedicated religious instruction facility beside the elementary school.

March–August 2022: The “LifeWise Academy Plot”

That statement creates a major timeline question.

Because later records indicate that, months afterward, the district was still discussing purchase price and preparing a real estate agreement.

So what exactly had already been approved in March?

A formal vote? A board consensus? Administrative authorization? An executive-session understanding? None of these scenarios appear to be documented in any Board meeting minutes.

Meanwhile, the project continued moving forward.

By April 2022, survey work and legal descriptions had been completed for a 0.5990-acre transfer from district-owned property.

By May, county tax-map approvals had been issued, and related project records appear to identify the property as the “LifeWise Academy Plot.”

One surveyor email stated the approved survey could be used to prepare a deed “from the school to LifeWise.”

At that point, Viking Character Academy did not yet exist.

July 25, 2022 – Superintendent Turson tells local LifeWise Board Member Greg Donough that the next step is finalizing the price and having the LifeWise representative draft a purchase agreement.

August 9, 2022 –  Village council discusses a request from Lifewise academy for the Village to pay for the materials required to run new sewer and water lines. After this discussion a Council member also comments that there is a business in town who wants to donate funds to LifeWise.

September 2022: Viking Character Academy is formed

On September 13, 2022, Viking Character Academy was incorporated as an Ohio nonprofit.

Its organizational documents state plainly that the corporation was organized and would operate “exclusively for religious purposes.”

That language is significant.

Because only months later, this newly formed religious nonprofit would receive public school land adjacent to the elementary school.

December 2022: The district authorizes the sale

On December 8, 2022 LifeWise signs the purchase agreement for the sale of the land for $3,000.00

On December 19, 2022, the Plymouth-Shiloh Board of Education approved a resolution authorizing the sale of district property to Viking Character Academy.

Public reporting and property-transfer records later showed that approximately 0.5990 acres were transferred from the district to Viking Character Academy for $3,000.

The land would become the site of a dedicated LifeWise schoolhouse beside the elementary campus.

A later article celebrating the project described the completed building as a $500,000 facility funded through donated labor, private donors, and a $50,000 grant from the Milliron Foundation.

The same article quoted Viking Character Academy board president Reggie Ganzhorn stating: “The LifeWise program is an extension of the church.”

That statement is difficult to reconcile with claims that the district was merely accommodating a neutral off-campus educational absence.

The coordination did not stop after the land transfer

The February 3, 2023 deed transfer was not the end of the relationship between the district, local government infrastructure, and the LifeWise project.

In many ways, it appears to have been the beginning.

February 3, 2023

A deed transferring 0.5990 acres from Plymouth-Shiloh Local School District to Viking Character Academy was officially recorded. The transfer amount was $3,000.

March 20, 2023

During a Board of Education meeting, district administration was publicly thanked for helping facilitate the land sale connected to the LifeWise project.

April 11, 2023

LifeWise/Viking representatives appeared before Village Council regarding water and sewer infrastructure connected to the project, including discussions involving utilities and expansion considerations.

August 16, 2023

LifeWise representatives contacted Superintendent Brad Turson asking whether the new LifeWise building could connect its sanitation line to the District sewer line that serves the school complex.

August 21, 2023

9:02 AM – LifeWise representatives contact Superintendent Turson a second time saying they had communicated with an EPA representative regarding sewer and infrastructure questions connected to the project. It is indicated that an easement would be needed for a lateral sewer connection.

The representative then justified the logic of an “in house sanitation connection” by stating that their “contract with the district” says the property “returns back to the Plymouth/Shiloh School District” if the ministry discontinued.

That is significant because the recorded warranty deed and related transfer records reviewed by SEA do not appear to contain clear reverter language. If the land is supposed to return to the district if/when the ministry dissolves, that protection should have been clearly written into the legal documents transferring public school property.

2:13 PM – Superintendent Turson forwarded the sewer connection request to district legal counsel asking whether such a connection would be permissible if the board wished to pursue it. District counsel responded with follow-up questions regarding logistics and responsibility. 

August 23, 2023

Turson informed LifeWise representatives that he had spoken with Village Administrator Jamie Burton, who reportedly stated:

“The village would not allow this to happen and that it would be an EPA violation.”

Turson added:

“Before we could proceed with the possibility of allowing this we will need the permission of the village.”

That language matters because it confirms district-level discussion of potentially allowing the LifeWise facility to connect directly into school sewer infrastructure.

August 24, 2023

Turson tells district attorney that village administrators said local ordinances would prohibit the connection and that it is a dead issue.

However further investigation shows the issue was in fact far from “dead” and raises questions about transparency with legal counsel.

October 16, 2023

Board of Education discussions referenced a water tap request connected to the LifeWise building. Meeting minutes reportedly stated:

“The sewer line has to be run, but nothing else will be affected.”

That statement appears difficult to reconcile with earlier emails discussing easements, EPA concerns, and questions about connecting into existing district infrastructure.

Please note that an entire year passes here before our next update.

July 23, 2024

Village Council discussions continued regarding LifeWise sewer-line plans, construction logistics, and utility coordination.

4 months go by.

November 12, 2024

Village Water Department reports documented that a water tap had been completed for the “LifeWise school.”

September 9, 2025

Water Department reports to Village Council include turning the water on for LifeWise.

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Taken as a whole, these records show that the relationship between the public school system, village infrastructure, and the LifeWise project did not end when the deed was signed.

The coordination continued for years.

The infrastructure trail keeps growing

The records do not stop with the land sale.

Village discussions referenced sewer-line support for the LifeWise building.

Emails show LifeWise representatives asking whether their sanitation line could connect to the school complex system, prompting legal review by district counsel.

Village records later referenced construction updates, sewer planning, EPA discussions, and even noted: “LifeWise cannot own the building.”

That sentence may explain the role Viking Character Academy played in the structure.

Other Ohio records show similar “Character Academy” entities functioning alongside LifeWise operations elsewhere in the state.

LifeWise’s own internal Policy Manual may also shed some light on why local programs wishing to own property must establish their own, separate non-profit entity.

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In November 2024, village records documented a water tap completed for the “LifeWise school.”

And the infrastructure questions were not limited to land, sewer, and water.

Plymouth-Shiloh’s own Student Wellness & Success Funding Plan for 2024 listed “Life Wise Academy” as part of the curriculum and training materials for Tier 1 Support. Notably, according to this document, Tier 1 Support is “provided by School Counselor, PBIS team members, administrators, and staff”.

To list LifeWise alongside school counselors & staff, child-abuse prevention resources, nursing, counseling, and social-worker supports greatly blurs any differential between this outside religious education and official school programing.

To put it simply, LifeWise is not being described only as an outside religious program operating separately from the district. It is appearing inside the district’s own student-support framework.

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The records also raise transportation questions as well.

Plymouth-Shiloh emails from July 2022 show district administration discussing the calculations and final costs of having bus drivers employed by the district transport students to LifeWise. Notice the emphasis from the Superintendent stating he wanted to “finalize the
contract for Board approval at the August 15 meeting.”

That same day, an email with the subject line “LifeWise School Bus Contract 2022” is sent back to the Superintendent containing an attached document titled “Lifewise Contract for Use of School Bus 2022.docx.”

The draft contract stated that the Plymouth-Shiloh Board of Education “shall provide transportation by District school bus” for children enrolled in LifeWise, with buses operated by district employees.

The copy reviewed by SEA appears to be unsigned, and the minutes from that referenced August 15th Board meeting show no discussion or approval of the contract. But that does not make the document irrelevant.

It raises an obvious question: why was a LifeWise school-bus contract circulating inside the district after Plymouth-Shiloh had already represented, in writing, that it would not provide transportation?

This was not merely an off-campus Bible class happening somewhere across town.

The records show a religious instruction facility physically integrated beside a public elementary campus and connected repeatedly to public processes, public infrastructure discussions, district legal review, and district transportation planning.

The contradiction at the center of the story

The district’s original acceptance language emphasized separation.

But the records show:

• district employees involved in project development,
• public land transfers,
• survey and zoning coordination,
• sewer and utility discussions,
• transportation planning,
• sanitation connection requests,
• and continuing operational coordination surrounding a religious instruction facility built directly beside the elementary school. 

The theory sold to the public was simple:

Students leave school voluntarily for privately funded religious instruction somewhere else.

But Plymouth-Shiloh’s records tell a different story.

Not clean separation.
Not a program operating independently across town.

A land transfer. Utility access. Sewer and water discussions. District legal review. A building beside the elementary campus. And even a draft contract contemplating district school-bus transportation.

Viewing all of these records together points to something much more serious than a private Bible class operating off to the side, especially when all of this information is considered from a child’s perspective.

The LifeWise program in this district takes students off campus as early as kindergarten. When a child that young potentially sees their bus driver taking students to religious education classes, in a district bus, followed by a LifeWise “classroom” being constructed on land that was previously part of the school’s campus, and finally seeing this program listed as part of the district’s success strategy… how can they be expected to understand that LifeWise is not just a fully implemented and officially endorsed portion of their district’s school day?

These records do not point to neutral accommodation or coordination, the point to full-on entanglement.