The Diocese of Green Bay has several measures in place that St. Therese is in compliance with in order to maximize the safety of children and vulnerable adults.  These include:

• Required background check and training to notice signs of abuse for anyone working with youth/the vulnerable (see links for volunteers to complete this process)
• Direct access to the Awarity reporting system. In the event of any incident, local police should be contacted first, but even in less severe cases or only hunches/concerns, a report should always be made through Awarity. These reports go to the Diocese's Safe Environment office and trigger immediate follow-up and support.
  
• One lesson each school year to help students understand these topics and ask questions.
  • 2024-25 High School lesson   English / Spanish
  • 2024-25 Middle School lesson   English / Spanish
  • 2024-25 Elementary School lesson   English / Spanish

If a student is absent the day of the safe environment lesson, the lesson plan will be sent home for parents to complete with their children.  If a parent wishes that their child not participate at all in the safe environment lesson, an opt-out form is available in English or Spanish and must be submitted to the parish office.

When we travel on field trips, we are bound to the following diocesan policy available here.  This includes:

• Chaperones must be age 21+ and fully up-to-date with Virtus/background checks.  18-20-year-olds are considered "young adults" and may participate but are not counted in the chaperone or student numbers.
• Day trips require a minimum of 1 male and 1 female chaperone (if trip has both genders, else 2+ chaperones) AND at least 1 chaperone per 8 total students.
• Overnight trips require a minimum of 2 chaperones per gender of student and at least 1 same-gender chaperone per 8 students.