Bi-Monthly Notes - August 2022


"My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me."
~ John 10:27
New Employee Meeting August 10th
Please remind your new employees of the New Employee Meeting on August 10th. All new employees to the Diocese must attend. The meeting will be held in the Baum Room at the Chancery and will begin promptly at 8:00 with a greeting form Bishop Johnston. Employees may park in the parking garage in any space space marked "New Your Life".
Convocation August 12th
Convocation has been moved to St. Therese North! Mass will begin at 9:00 am with Bishop Johnston. Please make sure you tell your staff to dress appropriately for a day with the Bishop! If you or anyone on your staff would like to bring up the gifts or sing at Mass please let Kerry know as soon as possible.
MoScholars Update from Jeremy Lillig

Dear School Leaders,
Thank you so much for your continued support as we implement this new and exciting program. 
 
Friday the State decided to allow provisional scholarship notifications to go out. Parents in tier 1 received an email saying they are approved pending funding. 
 
If parents call you trying to seek a definitive answer please tell them that:
 
If they received that email that they are in cue to receive a scholarship. We are actively fundraising and we don’t foresee any problems but we can’t give a guarantee. All should be fine and we are working hard to accommodate them.
 
Please do not pass them off to us. That creates a sense that we will give them a guarantee or some other answer. We CAN NOT do that. It also takes away from us being able to help parents needing assistance with other aspects of the process. Please help us so that we can help as many families as possible.
 
Jeremy Lillig, CSJA
Executive Director of Stewardship & Development
Executive Director, Bright Futures Fund
Executive Director, Endowment Trust Fund for Catholic Education
Executive Director, Catholic Community Foundation
Phone: 816-714-2356
Family Covenant Agreement 
Bishop Johnston asked the School Office to update the Family Covenant Agreement. Please use the attached agreement for the 2022-23 school year. 
This Covenant Agreement represents a commitment for the school and family to work together for the academic and spiritual formation of our students. You can find the agreement here.
Safe Haven Sunday Request from the Bishop
With the third annual observance of Safe Haven Sunday the weekend of September 10-11, the attached letter will be read at Masses at parishes in our diocese. Bishop Johnston would like to ensure that families that have children who attend our schools receive this communication by email (or a paper copy). Ideally it would be best if you send it sometime during this coming week.  
Office of Child and Youth Protection Important Changes!
The 2022 Safe Environment Policy updates and decree are completed and promulgated by Bishop Johnston. We feel these changes have enhanced the protection of the children in our diocese. Your role as a leader in our schools is very important as part of our collective efforts for the safety of children. I have attached a copy of the policy and included the link to The Office of Child and Youth Protection https://kcsjcatholic.org/office/child-youth-protection/ the landing page for many of your audit forms, policies, and Circle of Grace Curriculum. Additionally, Circle of Grace has a new website where you can download the curriculum and I will send a separate email with those details as well as helpful tips for a successful program!

In the next few weeks, I will have a Zoom Informational session for you. In this session, I will show you how your staff and volunteers access the new Mandated Reporter links and acknowledgment as well as demonstrate a new feature on VIRTUS that makes monitoring compliance easier!

After the tutorials, I will open it for questions. During this time you can stay and ask questions or leave the meeting. If you have specific questions related to schools please let me know. Below is a summary of some of the changes and FAQs I have developed to aid our community in understanding the changes. Thank you for all you do.

               Policy enhancements
  • The elimination of the 30/60 day grace period for Protecting God’s Children for both employees and volunteers.
  • The additional requirement of the State of Missouri Mandated Reporter training for all employees and volunteers. Followed by an acknowledgment the user signs annually. 
  • Updated Minor’s forms signed by parents, with an attestation that the minor who is working with children is safe to do so.
  • Five-Year renewal for all safe environment requirements
 
Frequently Asked Questions
  • Does the policy requiring being fully compliant before starting in ministry include employees and volunteers? – Yes it does, while the decree is specific to employees the policy promulgated by the Bishop is inclusive of both.
  • Where do I direct employees and volunteers for the new Missouri Kids First Mandated Reporter Training? Everyone with a VIRTUS™ account will have the link on their home tab. Click the link and it will direct you to the webpage starting Monday, July 23rd.
  • Who verifies the completion of the Mandated Reporter Training? – The SEC will verify the collection(by email) of the certificate. The employee/volunteer must send you the certificate. After completing the training they can sign the acknowledgment on VIRTUS™.
  • What is the Mandated Reporter Acknowledgement? This is a document that the user will electronically sign (similar to the EIM process) the user acknowledges their responsibilities, training, and understanding of what a Mandated Reporter’s role is.
  • The Missouri Mandated Reporter training is not available in Spanish, what do we do for our Spanish-speaking community? We will continue to use the VIRTUS™ Mandated Reporter in Spanish.
  • What if we have an emergency hire and there is no Protecting God’s Children workshop before their start date? On the rare occasion, you will need to email me requesting the employee or volunteer be assigned an online module, however, the volunteer or employee must attend the next available in-person workshop.
  • If a current volunteer does not have all their updates and requirements can they still volunteer? all volunteers must be 100% compliant within 30 days of the five-year expiration.
  • What do we do when a current employee is not compliant after 30 days? The employee should be reported to the business manager for further action.



Peace,
 
Don Stubbings
Safe Environment Program Coordinator
Office of Child and Youth Protection
Phone: 816-714-2394
Fax: 816-817-7219
Iowa Flex Data Training
The CSO will be hosting 2 days of training for principals on how to use your IOWA Flex data. Our first day of training will be Tuesday, September 27, 2022. You can select to join us for the morning session (9-12:00 pm) or the Afternoon session (12:30 – 3:30 pm). Our 2nd day of training will be Tuesday, January 10, 2023.
Upcoming Events
Event
Date/Time
Location
New Employee Meeting


Protecting God's Children Training

Convocation
August 10 - 9:00 am


August 10 - 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm


August 12 - 9:00 am
Baum Room


Baum Room


St. Therese Church
Catholic School Office | Website