Three Ohio men previously involved with LifeWise Academy were recently charged or pleaded guilty to sex crimes involving minors.
Three.
This is not just “deeply concerning.”
This is a child-safety crisis.
LifeWise removes children from public school during the school day for private religious instruction. That means every parent, school board member, superintendent, and lawmaker should be asking:
Who is verifying the adults taking custody of these children?
Who is checking their backgrounds?
Who decides what permanently disqualifies someone?
Who is responsible when districts hand children over to a private program operating with school-level trust but without school-level accountability?
A background-check vendor is not a child-safety policy.
A permission slip is not oversight.
And “trust us” is not good enough.
SEA helped connect these dots and alerted the media because this pattern matters. These cases should not be treated like isolated headlines. They are warning signs about what happens when private programs are given access to public-school children without enough transparency, verification, or accountability.
Public schools have a duty to protect children.
LifeWise owes families answers.
What people are saying:
- Facebook User: And how many parents will be appraised of this? Next to none?
- Facebook User: Shouldn’t say I told you, but…..
- Facebook User: Facebook User it’s always the same suspects 😑
- Facebook User: Most schools, etc. will only do a criminal background check as that is required under law. Unfortunately no further checks are done even for verification of required professional licenses. Schools and organizations involving children must add additional checks instead of the minimum required by law.
- Facebook User: get ’em! let’s wrap it up! for the kids.
- Facebook User: Knowing this, why woulx any parent allow their child to be near these people?
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