By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — Civil liberties activists criticized the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York on Tuesday for not allowing a public school in Chelsea to teach sex education in a building owned by the church.
The Clinton School for Writers and Artists recently agreed to move from 21st Street to a building owned by the Catholic church at the St. Michael's Academy on 33rd Street under the condition that no sex education classes are taught at the new location.
The agreement did not go over well with several activist groups.
“When a religious organization exerts control over the school’s curriculum or day-to-day functioning, that raises serious [concerns],” said Galen Sherwin, a director specializing in reproductive rights of New York Civil Liberties Union.
The Department of Education has agreed to send Clinton School students to its old building at P.S. 11 at 320 W. 21st St. for sex-ed courses to comply with the $11.2 lease agreement signed the Archdiocese.
“A religious institution should not dictate what public school can or cannot teach, and students should not be subject to extra burdens in order to get the education to which they are entitled under law,” Sherwin added.
In fact, the Civil Liberties Union said there should be more sex education in the city’s schools because 41 percent of local school children report being sexually active by the ninth grade, according to the Center for Disease Control.
Planned Parenthood also chimed in about the unusual agreement between the Department of Education and the Archdiocese.
“It’s time we give our students the skills and tools they need to make healthy decisions, so that they grow up into healthy adults,” said Joan Malin, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood New York City.
But Sister Marie Pappas, of the Office of Mission Effectiveness at the Archdiocese, affirmed Clinton School should not be able to teach lessons that conflict with Catholic beliefs within a church building.
“We are a Catholic institution,” she said. “We don’t have lessons taught here that contradict with Catholic faith and practice on the church premise. The Clinton School here is still a representative of the Archdiocese and what it stands for in terms of tradition and usage.”
Pappas said the church has its own lessons on “human sexuality” that teach about sex as “an expression of committed human love."
The Department of Education will vote on the plan to relocate the Clinton School to the church location on June 22.
