Contact

Email us at trilakesschoolministries@gmail.com with your child’s name, grade, school, and how we can best reach you. Please also email your child’s high school guidance counselor and/or registrar, letting him/her know that you’d like your child to participate in Tri-Lakes School Ministries’ Released Time Bible Education (RTBE) class. Notify the counselor/registrar which elective you would like to drop for each semester you plan on having your child attend our Foundations class. You will also need to submit an Attendance Waiver form giving permission for your child to attend the class off campus. We can provide that form to you, or your school may also send it to you.

We have two licensed teachers who are team-teaching this year, as well as qualified substitute teachers who will assist when needed. Two adults will be in the classroom at all times: one teacher and one volunteer.

Absolutely. Every one of our staff and volunteers are background checked and required to attend training through Protect My Ministry in order to safeguard your children and our ministry.

Students are all on different paths to graduate, and depending on a variety of factors, have different course requirements necessary for graduation. However, high schools allow space in a four-year, 8 classes-a-semester schedule, and many students can achieve what’s needed for graduation long before attending all four years of high school. Most students should easily be able to attend at least one year of RTBE class, if not more.

Foundations is a one year course, intended to be taught in 2-semester parts, and we will be adding Summit’s other 3 courses, also 1-year long each, in the future.

By teaching the Foundations course in 2-parts, students may attend the class the full year through, OR attend first semester and complete the second semester during another school year, OR start in second semester and cover the first semester material another school year.

More is explained about upcoming classes in the curriculum series here.

Click (here) for more information on the legality of Released Time Bible Education

Reading will usually be the only required homework. When students come prepared to discuss a topic because they have read ahead of time, it makes discussion much more fruitful and fun for all. The structure of this class is not lecture-style. While teachers will certainly explain unfamiliar and/or new topics, they will serve more as facilitators of a Socratic method- style classroom, encouraging dialogue, questioning, and debate among and with the students.

Teachers may periodically assess students for understanding, but no formal quizzes, tests, or grades will be given.

No. All high school students are welcome, without any expectations except that the students respect their peers and instructors and come to class prepared to actively participate and learn.

This class is intended for those genuinely seeking truth and desiring to understand the biblical worldview. Many youth are trying to make sense out of conflicting messages in our culture about identity, purpose, values, social justice, whether God is real and good, and whether truth is relative. Students are safe in our classrooms to discuss candid questions and arguments, and we will address them from a biblical perspective, allowing students to compare and analyze the biblical worldview with other worldviews.

We’re here to help students discover for themselves whether truth can be found- and how to defend it. We believe that there is verifiable evidence to show that Christianity is a “reasonable” faith. The biblical worldview strongly aligns with reality regarding how the world works and presents compelling evidence that a supernatural, personal, uncreated creator designed our world and the abundant variety of life within it. Scripture, the claims of Jesus, and His Resurrection can be tested for historical reliability as well.

Staff and volunteers are required to agree to our Statement of Faith found here. As Christians ourselves, we take seriously our integrity in how we represent Jesus Christ and Christianity to our students. As followers of Christ, we recognize that we may not all agree on every issue, but there are certain foundational beliefs made clear in scripture and in God’s commands that we believe cannot be compromised.

We are an individual 501c3 nonprofit Christian ministry, not directly connected with a specific denomination or church. We are a member of School Ministries (schoolministries.org) national organization, and we are a part of the Body of Christ as described in the Bible. As followers of Christ, we adhere to our Statement of Faith found (here). Our staff and volunteers attend different local Christian churches, and many local Christian churches support Tri-Lakes School Ministries.

For this first year offering the class, as we launch our ministry and face many startup costs, we are asking but not requiring each family to donate $50 per student to help cover curriculum costs. As we build our donor base and research grants, we hope to very soon offer the class at no cost to families.

Email us at [email protected] to let us know if your child will be missing class. Teachers will reach out to share whatever material your child missed. Please inform your child’s school according to their protocol.

Regarding snow days, holidays, and any other school day that does not follow the regular block schedule, we will follow D38’s protocol. If D38 cancels school, we will not have class. If there’s a delay, we will follow the high school delay schedules. We will send email notification to families as soon as we are aware of any changes in schedule, including if anything differs between Lewis Palmer/Palmer Ridge and Monument Academy.

Yes! We just ask that food not become a distraction to learning and that students clean up after themselves, leaving the  classroom each day better than it was when we arrived.

Two adults will be present at all times with the students. Doors will be monitored by an adult volunteer as students arrive, and doors will be locked 5 minutes after class starts. If a student arrives late, he/she can call the teacher to let him/her in the building.

Every staff and volunteer is background checked through Protect My Ministry and is also required to participate in training specific to working with and ensuring the safety of children.

Tri-Lakes School Ministries provides accident insurance for each student which kicks in after a student’s family/personal insurance.

Students attend class one period during a block schedule, so they attend RTBE class every other school day for about 1.25 hrs.

Students/families are responsible for the students’ own transportation to class if their RTBE class is their first class of the day. For returning to school and any other class periods, students with licenses may drive themselves, parents can drive, and/or we have volunteer adult drivers to help transport students. Parents/guardians must give permission for their child to ride with anyone else, or they must indicate that they will be driving their child themselves.

Teachers will not be paid this year, but we hope to grow our donations in order to provide a modest salary to teachers as soon as possible.