For Sex Ed, Worcester Students In Church-Owned Building Have Been Traveling Off-Campus

WORCESTER, MA — Students who attend a Worcester public school in a building owned by a Catholic church have had to go to another school to take health classes involving sex education in an apparent off-the-record arrangement with the Diocese of Worcester, school officials have confirmed.

Worcester Superintendent Rachel Monárrez said she and other officials discovered this week that students from the La Familia Dual Language School have been leaving their diocese-owned Grafton Street building —the former St. Stephen School — and traveling several blocks to Worcester East Middle School for health classes involving sex ed.

The uncommon arrangement came to light this week after a group in Worcester called attention to a lease between the diocese and a proposed public charter school called the Worcester Cultural Academy. The group asked state education officials to intervene because the lease includes a clause restricting school activity that might violate Catholic doctrine — some fear that could lead to discrimination against gay students, or changes to curriculum.

The arrangement highlights a problem for public schools that rent space from a local Catholic diocese — which owns numerous now-closed Catholic school buildings — that has opposed Worcester's new sex education curriculum, and weighed in on social issues involving Catholic-affiliated schools.

Free Worcester, a group opposed to the Worcester Cultural Academy, last week asked state officials to investigate the lease between the Diocese of Worcester and the Old Sturbridge Village-backed charter school. The group highlighted a clause in the lease that said the school could not use the building for instruction "inconsistent with the doctrines or teachings of the Roman Catholic Church."

The lease for La Familia between the diocese and Worcester Public Schools does not specifically require either health or sex ed classes to be held offsite, Monárrez said, leaving district officials digging to find out why students have been traveling outside the school for those classes. Monárrez said it's possible the school's former principal came to a verbal agreement with the diocese without reporting it to administrators.

"We're going to change that or change the practice," Monárrez said. "We want our students to be able to stay in their own school."

Worcester City Solicitor Michael Traynor, whose office negotiated the lease, confirmed through a city spokesperson that the WPS-diocese lease does not include any clause about sex ed classes needing to take place off-site.

Diocese of Worcester spokesman Ray Delisle declined to answer questions about the arrangement — including whether the church had requested it.

"I would have to refer you back to Worcester Public Schools on that. I cannot comment on their procedures," Delisle said in an email.

Former superintendent Maureen Binienda, who stepped down at the end of the 2021-22 school year, said the lease was finalized around June 2021, shortly before La Familia opened. The diocese did express concerns about the district's sex ed curriculum, she said, and there were talks about moving students to a WPS-owned building for those classes only — but such a provision never made it into the final lease.

"There were some initial discussion with the church on that," Binienda said. "Where it has gone from this point, I don't know."

Binienda said the church at the time was concerned about sex ed classes for students in 7th and 8th grade. La Familia ends at 6th grade.

Diocese of Worcester Bishop Robert McManus has previously spoken out against Worcester's new age-informed sex ed curriculum, "Rights, Respect, Responsibility." Before the start of the 2022-23 school year, McManus sent a message to local pastors asking them to tell parents to opt out of the curriculum, also known as 3Rs.

The 3Rs curriculum covers kindergarten through 12th grade. For the youngest students, the curriculum focuses mainly on identifying unwanted touching, respecting individual identities and basic concepts of gender, according to Advocates for Youth.

McManus also revoked the Nativity School's Catholic affiliation after the school declined to remove Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ flags. The diocese does not control the operations of the Nativity School or others that are sponsored by orders like the Xaverian Brothers.

Old Sturbridge Village CEO James Donahue said last week the Worcester Cultural Academy would take a fresh look at its lease with the diocese, but the agreement "should not place any restrictions on our curriculum or our operations."

Neither Donahue nor a school spokesperson responded to a request for comment about the La Familia arrangement, and what implications it might have for the proposed charter school.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is still reviewing the Worcester Cultural Academy's application for a charter. DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley is expected to make a recommendation at DESE's board meeting at the end of February about whether to grant the Worcester Cultural Academy charter.