Every Wednesday afternoon 75 Annandale Middle School students are released early to attend religion classes at area churches. It’s been a relationship that has existed between the school and churches for as long as most people can remember. But scheduling changes at AMS have meant students are starting to miss core subjects like math and reading, and that has parents torn trying to decide what is more important. “Faith and spiritual life is a huge part of what makes a student successful,” said AMS principal Dean Jennissen. But he also noted one hour a week for a 22-week period means 22 hours of missed class time. Last fall the district made a decision to adjust the class schedule at the middle school to accommodate changes in staff size. Math and reading classes were moved to the afternoon and allied arts classes, classes normally reserved for the afternoon slot, were given morning hours. For the first time, religious release students were missing math and reading. “It’s tough for teachers when 10 to 13 students leave. The question is what to do with the rest of the class,” Jennissen said. “Most don’t feel they can continue teaching when the other students are gone.” That means the class spends an hour every week reviewing instead of moving forward, and with pressure mounting from state and federal mandates to have students performing at certain levels within a specified timeline, both teachers and parents fear there isn’t any time to spare. That is why Jennissen and Bendix principal Tracy Reimer met with area ministers and youth group leaders earlier this spring to discuss options. Three churches in Annandale participate in the religious release program, St. Ignatius Catholic Church, Zion Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Free Church. The majority of AMS students, 51, attend St. Ignatius classes. At Bendix, 77 first- through fourth-graders are excused to the Catholic church every Wednesday afternoon, 35 go to Zion Lutheran Church and 41 attend Evangelical Free religious classes. At the Evangelical Free Church, the program is more of an outreach class for students outside the church family, pastor Gary Partridge said. The convenience of the religious release program through the school attracts families who wouldn’t normally enroll their children in religious classes. Students are transported directly from school on buses provided by the individual churches, and they are brought back an hour to 45 minutes later, in time to catch their regular bus home. One option principals, pastors and parents discussed was making all of the religious classes after school programs, but they were afraid students whose parents are not able to drive them to class would miss out. “Religious release has always been a concern,” said Jennissen. “It always becomes a challenge for teachers when children miss school.” Besides the local demand for the program, a state law says public schools must provide students an opportunity to participate in religion class if the parent wishes it. At the elementary level, the concern is not so urgent. Because teachers have the same students all day they can be flexible and arrange their schedule to accommodate religious release. On Wednesdays they make sure math and reading are taken care of before anyone has to leave. “Those are the two core subjects, the building blocks,” Reimer said. “It would be a real disservice to the students to miss an hour of that kind of instruction every week.” For now parents, principals and pastors have agreed to leave the program as it is, though they will continue to debate options. Jennissen and Reimer hope to meet with the three church representatives again in June. “We really want to keep the communication open,” Reimer said. “It (religious release) is really a kind of double-edged sword. It is an option for students to have faith in their life, yet at the same time they are missing 22 hours of instruction. I can see both sides.”
