The Hilliard-based nonprofit that offers religious instruction to public-school students fired a woman after the program discovered a school district had previously fired her for allegedly sending sexually explicit texts to students.
LifeWise hired Renee Beck to be its director at Firelands Local Schools in northeast Ohio.
In 2018, the Loudonville-Perrysville school board fired Beck after she was accused of exchanging sexually explicit texts with students on and off school grounds. That's according to the Wooster Daily Record.
At the time, Beck was a teacher at Loudonville High School.
In a statement, LifeWise CEO Joel Penton said, "When we first learned about allegations of improper conduct related to Renee Beck’s previous employment, we immediately placed her on administrative leave and investigated the matter."
"We have since learned that while no charges had been filed and she didn’t have a criminal record, she failed to disclose important information to LifeWise staff about her employment history. We have terminated her employment," Penton said.
LifeWise buses elementary school students to churches or off-campus locations to learn about the Bible, usually during recess and lunch periods or classes such as art, music and gym.
Earlier this month, LifeWise filed suit in federal court in Indiana against the leader of a parent’s opposition group for copyright infringement.
The suit claims that the co-founder of the group Parents Against LifeWise posed as a LifeWise volunteer to get access to the organization’s documents, then posted the documents and LifeWise's copyrighted curriculum on the Parents Against LifeWise website.
LifeWise started in two rural Ohio schools in 2019 and has expanded to more than 500 schools in 23 states.
Penton a Hilliard resident and a former Ohio State defensive lineman.