Churches build high school classroom

The Greens say the New South Wales Government has allowed evangelical churches to launch a "recruiting campaign" at a public school near Newcastle by letting them build a scripture classroom.
Greens MP John Kaye says "aggressive" local churches have spent $30,000 to turn a lunch shelter into a classroom for Special Religious Education (SRE) on the grounds of Warners Bay High School.
Mr Kaye says the Education Department and its Minister, Verity Firth, have failed to protect the secular nature of public schools.
"It's effectively a chapel inside a public school allowing for the proselytising of kids in those schools," he said.
"Parents send their kids to public education expecting a secular education. Those kids will arrive at Warners Bay High School and have a chapel there with people who are hell-bent on converting those kids to Christianity."
But Education Department regional director Robyn McKerihan says the school has done nothing wrong.
Ms McKerihan says the church groups will only have access to the classroom when scripture lessons are taking place.
"The school principal has discretion under the community use of school facilities policy to hire out a school service or school activity," she said.
"The church group would only have access to the room during the SRE and the space then would be available for the school to use at its discretion at all other times in the school day."
Under the Education Act, public education must only include non-sectarian and secular instruction.