1. A Safe Environment for the Protection of Children and Young People

2. Safe Environment Policy for the Diocese of Lafayette 1) All employees and volunteers, who have personal contact with minors, must receive Safe Environment training. This training includes:  a detailed overview of the Diocesan Safe Environment Policy and an educational session on abuse and neglect of minors.  signing of the Diocesan “Code of Conduct”  signing the Diocesan “Social Media Policy”  answering the Diocesan Questionnaire on Abuse and Neglect of Minors  submitting to a criminal background check

3. Safe Environment Policy for the Diocese of Lafayette This training must be done before the individual has personal contact with minors. The only exception to this rule is if an adult would come for a one-time event and would not be personally interacting with minors – for example, a guest speaker at a one-time event that would never be alone with minors.

4. Safe Environment Policy for the Diocese of Lafayette 2) After Initial Training, employees and volunteers must complete an hour of Safe Environment Continuing Education annually each calendar year. This can be done in a variety of ways but the easiest way is through Virtus.org. 3) All paperwork for both Initial Training and Continuing Ed. training is kept at the Diocese and at the site where the individual received Initial Training. It can then be copied and sent to other Diocesan Churches or Schools.

5. Safe Environment Policy for the Diocese of Lafayette FEES For Volunteers: The Diocesan fee for running a background check on volunteers is $7.00. This fee is paid by the volunteer or by the organization for which the volunteer is serving (band, campus ministry, athletics, etc.) and must be paid at the time of Initial Training. Volunteers do not need to be fingerprinted. For Employees: Employees need to be fingerprinted as well as submit to a background check. This is a Louisiana State requirement, not Diocesan. The fee for employee fingerprinting and background check is $52.50 ($42.50 is paid by STM and $10.00 is paid by the individual). An employee is anyone getting paid by STM, not just full-time faculty and staff.

6. Safe Environment Policy for the Diocese of Lafayette Fingerprinting is done at the Diocesan Office on Carmel Drive on the second and last Tuesdays of each month. Times are 9:00am – 11:30am, and 1:00pm – 3:30pm. EMPLOYEES MUST BE FINGERPRINTED AT THE DIOCESE EVEN IF THEY HAVE BEEN FINGERPRINTED ELSEWHERE. Names of employees needing to be fingerprinted must be given to Mary Kellner at least 24 hours before being fingerprinted so the $42.50 check can be made for the individual to take to the Diocese.

7. In conclusion… Protect our students as if they were your own children. Protect yourself. If you give an adult personal access to any of our students who is not safe environment trained, and abuse occurs, you will share the responsibility for that abuse. If they are Safe Environment trained, you are legally protected.

8. FAQ New Social Media Policy – remember, any text that is sent to an STM student concerning official STM business must also be sent to another adult. Our emails are already archived and Administration can access email records if necessary. Student observers, since they will be present in class with students, need training. Ordinary guests who come to school, at Mass for example, do not need training because they are not being given personal access to our students.

9. What next? Go to Virtus.orgVirtus.org http://www.geardiary.com/2012/03/27/hey-amazon-can-you-please-let-me-change-the-paragraph-justification-in-your-apps/confused-2/