Letters to the Editor
Letter to the Editor | Will our schools become like those in Florida?
When my family moved from Florida to Gig Harbor last year, we were seeking sanctuary for our children’s education. In Florida, we watched public school neutrality collapse. What began as “parental choice” ended with extremist groups like Moms for Liberty taking over school boards, banning books, and restricting basic access to school nurses or libraries.
I’ve seen the future of where this leads, and I am alarmed to see the first steps of that same “long game” beginning here in the Peninsula School District (PSD).
Many neighbors may be noticing a flashy red bus at our local elementary schools (currently Discovery, Artondale, and Swift Water) and wondering what is happening. To understand the bus, you have to understand a legal concept called Released Time for Religious Instruction (RTRI). Stemming from a 1952 Supreme Court case (Zorach v. Clauson), RTRI allows public school students to be “released” from their state-funded education during school hours to receive private religious instruction. While the law requires these programs to take place off-campus and without taxpayer funding, it creates a massive loophole in the school day — one that is currently being utilized by a sophisticated national organization called LifeWise Academy.
LifeWise Academy is an Ohio-based franchise identifying public schools as the “greatest mission field in America.” They are a well-funded machine designed to integrate into the school day. Currently, PSD allows LifeWise to operate in three elementary schools. To a six-year-old, the flashy red bus looks like a party, but as a parent, I see a strategic foothold.
I recognize these tactics because I once led them. As a former Southern Baptist leader, I have planned the very activities we now see in PSD. In my past, I led church youth groups and mission trips specifically designed to target children when parents weren’t around, using entertainment as “bait” to draw youth in for indoctrination.
I once believed I was doing good, but now I see it as an effort to bypass parental boundaries. Today, LifeWise uses that “fun” to introduce a curriculum that explicitly teaches children that LGBTQ+ identities are a “rejection of God” and that non-traditional families are “sinful.”
These programs are not “no-cost.” When children are released mid-day, our front-office staff and teachers must track and manage the safety of these transitions. Our tax dollars provide the administrative backbone for a private religious organization. Currently, both OSPI and our local board “quietly” allow this disruption to the school day without public metrics.
If you think this is a “live and let live” scenario, look at Everett Public Schools. LifeWise wasn’t satisfied with simple off-campus access; they demanded the right to advertise on school grounds and forced the district to modify safety policies for student permission slips. When the district resisted, LifeWise sued. Just recently, on April 24, 2026, a federal judge granted an injunction against Everett, forcing the district to yield. This is the playbook: they do not “fizzle” — they litigate until they get the unfettered access they desire.
Furthermore, we must consider the legal “Pandora’s Box” we are opening. RTRI laws are religion-neutral. In states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, The Satanic Temple’s “Hellion Academy of Independent Learning” (HAIL) is already utilizing these same laws to pick up students. If PSD allows LifeWise to operate, we are legally barred from saying no to HAIL or any other group that meets the criteria. Are we prepared for the logistical chaos and community division this invites?
Many Christian neighbors may feel this is harmless, but I ask you to look at the states where these initiatives have taken hold. It begins with “choice” and ends with the dismantling of the public school as a safe, neutral space for all children. It starts with a red bus and ends with school boards run by far-right extremists.
We have a short window to address this through local policy before it becomes a permanent, litigious fixture in Gig Harbor. I urge the PSD Board to move beyond being “unwitting participants.” We need a formal, public review of RTRI policies immediately. Please join me at the next board meeting to voice your concern. Our schools should be a place for education — not a mission field for well-funded organizations to target our children.
Michael Wright
Gig Harbor