An abstinence-only sex-education program, which the state Department of Education reviewed before approving for use in public schools, “continues to have serious flaws” detrimental to students, the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday.

In March, Education Commissioner Peter McWalters advised schools not to use the program, developed by the nonprofit group Heritage of Rhode Island, after the ACLU claimed it isolated gay students and provided misleading contraceptive information.

McWalters’ advisory noted that the Heritage program, which was being used in Woonsocket at the time, was “NOT consistent with the Rhode Island Health Education Standards” nor had it been reviewed first, as required, by the department.

During the summer, education department staff “encouraged Heritage to work with a consultant that would help them design a program so that it met all state regulations, and they did so,” said department spokesman Elliot Krieger. Earlier this month, McWalters approved the federally funded program for use, one of many sex-education programs school districts can choose from, said Krieger.

But the ACLU yesterday said the program still has several problems.

“For example,” the ACLU said, “the materials suggest that condoms only protect against chlamydia and gonorrhea 50 percent of the time, contradicting findings from the Centers for Disease Control and [the] World Health Organization that speak to the effectiveness of condoms” in protecting against sexually transmitted diseases.

Moreover, the ACLU claims, the Heritage curriculum “persists in isolating gay and lesbian youth and students in non-traditional families by suggesting that marriage is responsible for better health, lower rates of injury and illness, lower rates of depression and an increased ‘likelihood that fathers and mothers have good relationships with their children.’ ”

This emphasis, the ACLU said, “appears to be a roadmap to instilling depression, if not fear, in gay and lesbian teens who cannot benefit from marriage, and in other students who live in non-traditional households.”

Steven Brown, executive director of the local ACLU, said, “If Heritage is unable to comply with state standards for comprehensive sexuality education, then it is up to the Department of Education to pull the curriculum from the schools.”

Krieger said the department has no intention of doing so — or of reviewing it again.

“It’s been reviewed.”

At the moment, no school is using the program, he said, and if and when they do, the department may monitor its use to assure it is taught correctly; the program would only be part of a broader sex-education curriculum.

“If it is implemented in any district and a parent has a concern about how it is being [taught],” said Krieger, “we would want to hear that.”