Manhattan ? The American Civil Liberties is talking to the Manhattan school district about just how far a student can go in practicing satanic beliefs.

Cliff Cookman claims to be an ordained satanic priest and wears a priest’s collar and a necklace with an inverted pentagram to Manhattan High School. The inverted pentagram, known as a “Sigil of Baphomet,” is symbolic of evil.

But the staff at the high school didn’t go along with the 17-year-old’s insistence that he be allowed to wear a red robe on special occasions.

ACLU general counsel John Simpson said Cookman contacted the ACLU last fall with concerns about his religious rights at school. He declined to elaborate.

Cookman said Simpson had advised him not to comment.

However, Cookman discussed his situation in a Jan. 24 letter with the high school’s Mentor newspaper. He claimed classmates harassed him because he wears the collar and necklace. Cookman also claimed teachers refused his request to refer to him as the “Rev. Cookman.”

Simpson said he and Cookman were negotiating with the school district’s attorney, Dick Seaton. No legal action has been taken.

“We want to make sure that his religious needs can be accommodated under the First Amendment,” Simpson said.

School officials so far have balked at letting Cookman wear his long red robe. The issue came up on March 11 when Cookman told principal Teresa Miller that he planned to wear the robe the following day, on his 17th birthday.

Miller said she told Cookman school rules prohibited wearing such a garment, both because he could conceal a weapon under it and he could trip on it.

But Cookman arrived at school on his birthday wearing the robe and white and black face paint. He left after he was told he needed to change clothes.