GRAND SALINE, Texas — Students at Grand Saline ISD are being offered an elective class based on the historical context surrounding the Bible. The class is named Bible Study and was first pitched by former coach Paul Trent.
The course was approved by GSISD's school board and in 2021, students began taking the elective. Trent became the instructor given his experience of being a licensed ordain minister which he became right after graduating high school himself.
"Everybody was excited about it and of course it’s an elective so (students) chose that from other choices," Trent said.
He retired last year but came back to the school part-time to teach Algebra II. This school year the course was passed down to a newly hired coach named Les Rhea, a current pastor in Tyler at Vanderbilt Baptist Church.
"What we're trying to do is introduce them to the Old Testament Hebrew," Rhea said. "Introduce them a little bit about who wrote the book, a little bit about history because it's like a history class. Then I give them an outline so if they want to study things on their own, they can read and study it."
This type of course isn't offered in many Texas schools but if they want to adopt one like GSISD they can since it's protected by the Texas Education Code.
TEC Code 28.002 states that public schools must offer enrichment curriculums with one of the options being religious literature and its impact on history.
The school’s superintendent Micah Lewis and instructors said the course has been so sought after by students that this year the district extended it to middle school students.
"I keep just having kids everyday come in asking, 'Can I get in your class?,'" Rhea said. "This room is already full, in fact I had to move an extra desk in. They keep wanting to get in so I'm hoping we’ll expand."
CBS19 also asked the Lewis if the district would consider offering electives focusing on other religious texts such as the Torah or the Quran. He said they would consider it if it had enough interest.