New Jersey: Sex Education Goes on the Road; Catholic Diocese Bans Class in Leased School

Students at Perth Amboy High School's "East Campus" are now being bused to another location for sex education classes so the public school can abide by lease terms. Last summer, school administrators solved a classroom space problem by leasing the former Catholic middle school Our Lady of Hungary from the Diocese of Metuchen. About 200 freshmen take classes at OLH.

In October, some school administrators were surprised when an attorney representing the diocese telephoned to say that sex education classes that are not abstinence-only cannot be taught on Catholic property. "It was something that totally escaped us," said Jeffrey Hudanish, Perth Amboy's vice principal. Nonetheless, it was a stipulation of the lease, a church official said.

"They know ahead of time they cannot use those premises for any teaching that would be contrary to the Catholic Church," said Monica Demkovitz, the diocese's property management director.

As more Catholic schools close across New Jersey and public schools are interested in leasing the properties, the issue over sex education is likely to come up again, said John Rodecker, Perth Amboy's superintendent. In New York City, public high school students in former Catholic schools forego sex education classes until they are back in a public school building, said spokesperson Margie Feinberg.

Five Perth Amboy sex education classes were recently bused to the main campus to hear a Planned Parenthood guest speaker discuss STDs. "They'll remember it more, because of what they had to go through to get the information," said Gregg Ficarra, the school's health and physical education director. While at OLH, students with sex education-related questions are told to write them on index cards and wait until they are bused to the main campus to discuss them.

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