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Go ye therefore and teach all nations...(Matthew 28:19)

[Story from the Winchester Star - March 26, 2005]

Students Become
Versed in Bible
Aboard Bus

By Kelly Cupp
The Winchester Star

Since 1945, the Weekday Religious Education program has pulled Frederick County school students from class to attend a weekly religion course.

And the parents and students still love every minute of it.

In many cases the WRE’s attendance has been passed down through the generations, with parents gladly sharing the experience with their currently enrolled elementary students.

Frederick County’s WRE was initially in the school buildings when it started in 1945, according to board member and former WRE student Fred Grim.

But a 1982 Supreme Court ruling forced the national program out of the schools, he said.

Now, students board a specially-designed bus and are driven to an area off school property, but still close to the school for lessons on the Bible and Jesus, according to Carolyn Glaize, a board member.

The program provides a weekly 30-minute class for students, she said.

Since the WRE has operated in the Frederick County schools community, no one has lodged a concern or complaint, Glaize said.

Unlike what the Staunton Public Schools just went through.

This past December is the first time questions had come up about the program, according to Harry Lunsford, Staunton Public Schools superintendent.

“What’s occurred over the last few years is a little less participation as the community becomes more diverse. The School Board members had received some concerns from parents . . . not supportive of the program,” Lunsford said.

To answer parents’ concerns, the School Board had a public hearing to get community thought and input on the program which sparked a broad interest, he said.

For the first time in about 60 years, the School Board voted on the program and decided to keep the program in the school community but revisit it through annual reports to determine if the program has any effect on the instructional programs of the school system, Lunsford said.

While no such concerns have occurred in Frederick County yet, the program tries to avoid scheduling religious classes against academic classes, Glaize said. Also, students who attend the program are in the fourth and fifth grades and can easily make up material missed, she added.

The classes are optional and have to be approved by the parents, Grim said.

“No child is being forced to take the class,” he said. “We’ve had excellent cooperation with the schools.”

It’s important students have the opportunity to take part in the WRE classes, Glaize said. It gives them something to cling to as peer pressure continues to build, she said.

“It gives them positive values in today’s negative world,” she said.

Parents seem to agree.

Donna Werdebaugh, who also attended WRE when she was a student, is glad her 10-year-old son is involved in the program for Stonewall Elementary students.

She said her family needed to create a structured home centered on the Bible and the WRE was a way to help. It also helps her son develop good morals and values.

“It’s a good base. It helps battle peer pressure,” she said. “David [her son] actually loves it,” she said. “It’s helping me more. He is the one who says ‘Mom you’re not supposed to do that.’”

Missing academic time is a small price to pay for the additional religious learning, she said. Werdebaugh said she doesn’t even know what class David is missing when he goes to the WRE.

“I would rather he go to this and learn about the Bible and get a good moral background,” she said.

The spiritual food is as important as academic learning, she said.

Parent Betty Jo See, whose nine-year old daughter attends the program at Apple Pie Ridge Elementary School, agreed.

“She’s really come out of her shell. She’s excited about it. It’s no problem at all [to miss class],” See said. “Those 30 minutes won’t hurt her.”

Parents can tell which students are enrolled in the WRE, she said. There’s so many students doing drugs and drinking alcohol, cursing, and bullying others, See said.

“You know they’re not the ones coming to WRE,”she said.

A problem for the WRE is declining enrollment, Glaize said. Only 100 elementary students are involved in the program.

One of the main problems is the program is no longer allowed to send home literature through the schools, she said.

Many people don’t know the program still exists, she said.