ACTION AREAS

1. Obtain elder, deacon, and congregational support through presentations, materials, videos, and meetings.

2. Establish a prayer team who will commit to pray individually and collectively for God's will to be determined, for the salvation of those students across the street, for the best means to reach them with the gospel. Pray also for good relations with the school staff, for their salvation, and for favor with the School Board.

3. Research how many students attend the school in each grade. Determine a plan for identifying individuals who will be attending next year. Determine how to gain grassroots support from those families who will have children attending there.

4. Determine what your church is able to do, either alone or working with other area churches. Determine the size of classes, number of classes, age level, number of chaperones and teachers.

5. Determine curriculum and materials to be used. (We have some excellent sample materials you could review.)

6. Research the school schedule for next year for each grade. Determine what area of the day to target and consider the time restraints. Determine what has the best chance of Board approval and success. Should it be a one day a week program taking the children out of a class or would it be better to offer R.T. as an elective everyday for an entire six weeks?

7. Determine the budget you will need to offer the program, from planning through implementation. (Our costs for office supplies, copying, mailing, sample curriculum materials, Released Time start-up materials, etc.. now total approximately $970.00.
This amounts to about $100.00 each month in expenses. Much of this, however, you would not have to buy, just borrow from the Released Time Committee. This money has come from various donation sources. The Lynn Garden Presbyterian Church, for its part, has provided $100.00 to the Released Time Committee for these costs and set aside $400.00 to buy study books once we have students.)

8. Evaluate your insurance coverage and determine whether it is adequate to host a Released Time program. (The Lynn Garden Evangelical Presbyterian Church has a million dollar policy with a million dollar umbrella. It is very comprehensive in its liability coverage.)
9. Coordination with the Released Time Steering Committee and other churches will be important to success. This will involve having someone appointed to the R.T. Committee. Together, we can help one another follow all the guidelines which will prevent any legal entanglements from hostile sources. We can also help you create a formal presentation packet for the School Board. Your church should also try to get other area pastors to support your Released Time proposal to the School Board. Ask for hands-on cooperation in signing letters, attending School Board meetings, making Released Time presentations to their congregations, providing volunteers to help with the program, providing funds for the study materials, etc...

10. Keep your own congregation involved. They need to be hands-on involved in writing letters to the School Board, attending School Board meetings, writing letters to the editor, calling people they know in the community to enlist their support. If you have a Vacation Bible School, target the middle school age group and gain support from their parents for Released Time. In the meantime, while waiting for the School Board to act, your church could offer a once-a-week after-school program for the middle school students. This is another way to gather support for Released Time.

11. Keep good records of supporters, expenses, potential students, etc... Once Released Time gets underway, you will need parent permission forms signed. Attendance records should be taken at each class, then provided each week to the school principal.

12. Accountability to parents will involve take-home papers, progress reports, notes, phone calls, etc... This should be considered an evangelistic opportunity for those families who are not believers. Sometime during the Released Time program, there should also be an open house event. At the end of the program, there should be some event which brings the family together to acknowledge the child's achievements. There will also be accountability to the School Board. The church should periodically supply evaluation reports and letters of satisfaction from parents. Reports should also go to the Released Time Committee.

13. Public relations will be an on-going responsibility.

14. Time requirements really depend upon how much effort you put into Released Time. At the outset, it takes a lot of time to do it right. Once it is up and running, it is more dependent upon how many classes per week you offer and how many students you have.

For further information or to sign up
please call: (423)378-4863
Tennessee Released Time Christian Education
P. O. Drawer 6
Kingsport, TN 37662

BETTER KIDS MAKE BETTER SCHOOLS!