Worcester Schools Leader Says Monsignor Asked School To Move Sex Ed Classes

WORCESTER, MA — Worcester Public Schools officials have nixed a plan to shuttle students at a city school off-campus to take sex education classes after a church official requested the move, the Worcester superintendent said Thursday.

La Familia Dual Language elementary school students attend classes in a former St. Stephen Church school along Grafton Street under a lease with the Diocese of Worcester. St. Stephen Monsignor Robert Johnson told principal Suzanna Resendes at the beginning of this school year that sex ed classes needed to be taught outside the church-owned building, Superintendent Rachel Monárrez said Thursday.

Resendes agreed, and planned to send students to nearby Worcester East Middle School for the classes. Worcester Patch reported yesterday that students had already traveled off-campus for classes, but they never did because sex ed classes will not begin until later this school year, Monárrez confirmed Thursday.

"[Resendes] was put in a difficult situation for a brand-new principal," Monárrez said, describing the arrangement as an "honest mistake." Resendes took over as La Familia's principal at the start of the 2022-23 school year.

Asked about the arrangement, Johnson deferred comment to Diocese of Worcester spokesman Ray Delisle, who declined requests for comment.

Worcester's new sex education curriculum — broadly called "3Rs" — has drawn opposition from some parents — and Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert McManus. But La Familia's lease does not contain a provision requiring sex ed classes to be taught outside diocese property, city and district officials have said.

“I find the program to be morally unacceptable for our Catholic children or any child,” McManus said in a 2021 letter urging local parents to opt-out of 3Rs.

Although the 3Rs curriculum is broadly referred to as "sex ed," curriculum for elementary-level students focuses on topics like recognizing signs of sexual abuse, bodily autonomy, bullying and basic concepts of gender, according to Magdalena Ganias, the district's curriculum manager.

The Worcester School Committee approved the 3Rs curriculum in 2021, and it's been in use since the 2021-22 school year. A full description of what each grade level receives is available on the WPS website, and guardians can opt their children out of the curriculum at any time. Students in kindergarten through third grade only receive five lessons throughout the year as part of 3Rs, Ganias said.

The issue of church influence over public schools was raised last week by the group Free Worcester, which formed to oppose the proposed Worcester Cultural Academy charter school. A clause in the proposed charter school's lease with the diocese says the school cannot use the building for anything "inconsistent with the doctrines or teachings of the Roman Catholic Church."

"Our understanding is that the language in the proposed lease is standard for all diocesan building leases, including those with the city of Worcester for the Worcester Public Schools, which leases space from this same parish, and should not place any restrictions on our curriculum or our operations. If our understanding is incorrect, we will certainly address it," Old Sturbridge Village CEO James Donahue said of the lease. OSV is backing the proposed charter school.

According to Monárrez, the district's only other lease with the diocese is for the former St. Casimir's school along Waverly Street, home of the Alternative School. That lease is ending this year, she said.