Greetings to our School Principals! This page has been created to keep you updated on news specific to your ministry, as well as to assist in communicating important points for you to know as you handle paperwork, CSS timelines, and other aspects of the job. Please check back periodically, because information will be added as needed and under the date it is written so that it is easier for you to scan this page. This is a much more cost-effective way for us to communicate, rather than sending out letters all the time. Additionally, CSS will be creating email newsgroups, so please make sure that the CSS office has your current email or the one you prefer using for this purpose. If there are any changes, please contact the OCP at (508) 674-4681 or email djones@cssdioc.org. Thank you and God bless you in the work that you do in His name!
8 DECEMBER 2010
Postage Please make sure that you check the postage on the packets you send to us. We have been receiving a number of CORI packets every week that have postage due, which is difficult for us to absorb over the course of a year (it really does add up)! Your attention to this is greatly appreciated.
CORI Packet News – URGENT!!
There was an inadvertent mistake in the binders which were distributed to the parishes and schools. The CORI form for priests and deacons was included, but should not have been. All priests and deacons complete their CORI forms through Msgr. Perry’s office only. Please remove that form from the binder and if a pastor or deacon asks to be CORI’d through you, please refer him to Msgr. Perry’s office.
Every CORI packet is being reviewed by Debora Jones before being forwarded to the CORI office for processing. This way, if there are any mistakes that have to be corrected by the site, they can be returned quickly. To date, there are some common mistakes that keep happening, so please review your paperwork before sending in the packets, to ensure the fastest processing possible. Items to watch for are as follows: NO pencil on the CORI forms! They must be completed and signed in ink. If not, they have to be returned to you. Please also make sure that you are using the correct color form, and that the forms are filled out completely and correctly. Some CORI forms have a number in the driver’s license area that is a social security number or other number that is not the DL number. Many do not have verification of ID, which is required under MA law to be done by the person copying the photo ID. Many forms are missing the name of the site or the city/town. We fill in what we can, but when we are inundated with forms, it slows everything down. With regard to the sign-in sheets, we frequently get old forms that are no longer accepted, or we get the new ones with training dates missing, name of the trainer missing, or the trainer initials missing, which is required to verify attendance and as an audit protection. Reviewing your paperwork for accuracy and completion before sending it to us helps everyone.
New volunteer CORI form color for 2011. The much-anticipated color for the volunteer CORI form is lavender or lilac, whatever you have access to. Please remember that you must use blue through December 31, and must postmark all blue forms to CSS by January 7, 2011, or they will have to be redone on lavender. As of January 1, 2011, lavender or lilac is the color that must be used for all volunteer CORI forms. All other forms remain the same colors, as usual.
New CORI forms! The Commonwealth has issued new CORI forms and we are now in the process of distributing masters to the parishes and schools. A simplified Code of Conduct has also been completed. The deanery meetings are the first place of distribution for parishes and the December principal’s meeting is where the schools will receive their packets. Those of you who cannot make it to those meetings should contact Debora Jones at the OCP at (508) 674-4681 or djones@cssdioc.org to get your packet. Also included in the packet will be the new abuse prevention training DVD and training guide. Trainings on how to use them will be offered early next year, but the packets will have complete instructions included.
New Abuse Prevention DVDs are in! The new DVDs are here, along with a new training guide. Sites are asked to use the new training format during the slower months so that any necessary fine-tuning can be done before the next busy season of CORI forms and training. The packets are being distributed as stated above, or you can contact Debora Jones at the OCP to make arrangements to get your materials. We are distributing one packet per site.
Website Changes Please check the website again in January, as after the first of the year, the website will be changed and reorganized to be more user-friendly. Now that everyone has the training binders, there is no need to have so much information on the website, so it will be streamlined to help you access just what you need. We will also be posting the CORI forms online and adding some new features to uplift and inspire you. Stay tuned . . . 2011 is going to be our best year yet!
Thank you!
Thank you to all of you for a wonderful year. Those of you doing this work are wonderful colleagues and your hard work is appreciated more than words can say. Prayers are being said for a safe and blessed holiday season for all and for increased blessings in the New Year. Peace to all!
NOVEMBER 2010
Green Book Correction!!
To all who have copies of our new Abuse Prevention Policy & Procedure Book, revised July 2010, please take note of a typo in the book. On page 9, in Section E, General Procedures, item #1, the next to the last sentence of the first paragraph reads, “volunteer or employee is to be suspended without pay (if applicable) . . . “ The correct wording is “volunteer or employee is to be suspended with pay (if applicable) . . . “ Please make a note of that correction. Thank you!
Teacher/Parent Training Sessions on November 15 and 22!
For all Faith Formation teachers, and any interested parents, CSS will be holding a training session in Mansfield on Monday, November 15 and Monday, November 22. Both nights, the sessions will be from 7:00 p.m. until approximately 9:00 p.m. The sessions are graciously being hosted by St. Mary’s Parish, Mansfield, at the following address:
The sessions are to give Faith Formation teachers a foundation for teaching the Child Maltreatment Prevention Program (CMPP) Curriculum. Topics include the history of the program, the application of the U.S.C.C.B. Charter, and the general approach to teaching the material. Any teacher who would like more information or a refresher course on how to teach the curriculum is welcome. All parents who would like to have a better understanding of the curriculum and how it is designed to be integrated into Faith Formation lessons are also welcome. We look forward to seeing you there!
OCTOBER 2010
OCP MANUAL TRAINING FOLLOW-UP
A huge thank you to all those of you who attended the trainings for DREs and principals. I know the meetings were mandatory, but hopefully you found the new manuals and information useful. The site audit is rapidly approaching and it will take a combined effort to ensure full compliance for the Diocese. Your attendance and continued work is greatly appreciated.
A couple of important questions, for which I did not have an immediate answer, were raised at the trainings, and I wanted to assure you that they were not forgotten. Here are the replies that I can give you thus far.
With regard to the question of who is authorized to sign the CORI forms, I have done some research and have turned the matter over to Arlene, who is also working on it. As soon as we have a definitive answer, I will post it here.
The other question that arose is what to do about CORIs for nationals from other countries. If they are religious, those individuals are cleared through the Chancery and must come with proper clearance if they are going to work with children. Your pastor can help you address those questions. If you have individuals who wish to volunteer but who are from another country, you should show the person the video but without a proper background check, that person should never be alone around children. We have heard of providers of international background checks, but they are potentially expensive and in some countries, are considered illegal. If you find yourself in this situation, please contact the OCP for further information.
EXCITING VIDEO NEWS!!
Our new training video is on schedule, which means it should be finished early in October. The plan is for the DVD to include English, Portuguese and Spanish versions all on the same disc. When the video is ready for release, there will also be a new training format to accompany it. Since the video will be fairly long, it is being designed to be stopped at 3 different points for discussion, with the final discussion at the end of the video. This will keep the trainees’ attention more effectively than if they were asked to watch a long video and then participate in a discussion. Stay tuned for more information as the date gets closer!
MORE FORMS AVAILABLE ONLINE
We have now posted all the forms online except for those that have to do with the CORI information. We are diligently working on setting up the secure portion of the website, so please check back to find out when that is completed. We will also be announcing next year’s volunteer CORI color soon—another reason to check back. If only we could have a vote for the favorite color!
THE AUDIT IS COMING, THE AUDIT IS COMING!
The audit is now less than a month away, so we should all be busy getting things in order. Please remember to be doing the following:
Tracking the opt-outs for the Lures Program in the schools and the Child Maltreatment Prevention Program in the parishes.
Reviewing your active list to be sure that everyone on it has a current CORI and a training date.
Making sure that your Code of Conduct posters are visible; you have complete sets of the appropriate curriculum for your site; you have bulletins for the parishes or policies and procedures for the schools showing how you incorporate the abuse prevention curriculum; have OCP contact info ready, necessary forms at the ready, etc. If the auditors show up at your site, you want to be prepared!
If you are a parish site, please remember to send the OCP all bulletins that have child protection issues posted in them.
IT’S RAINING CORI FORMS
Thank you to everyone for working so diligently to get CORIs and trainings completed. We are currently inundated with packets of forms and for the most part, there is a great improvement in the accuracy and completeness of the forms.
I would like to make one point of clarification about the forms, and that is when it says in the manual to staple the papers together, it is referring to stapling each CORI to its corresponding photo ID and, when applicable, the volunteer questionnaire. It does not mean stapling the entire group of training forms together for an entire class. Please do take the time to make sure that you have the forms for each individual stapled together. If not, Lorraine has to sort through everything and do that, which slows down the CORI process.
Also, in reviewing training sign-in sheets this past weekend of trainings that were conducted after all of the OCP Manual trainings were held, we are still having a number of problems with the form. Please take note of the following:
Please use the correct form. Any form that is submitted other than the correct form will not be processed and will be returned to you for correction. The correct form is in your manual, but a clean copy, without the section and page number, is posted on the website pages for both DREs and Schools under “Forms.” It is a .pdf file and can be downloaded easily for your convenience.
As it states in the manual, please DO NOT number the pages. That is for OCP office use only.
Please remember to send the original to the OCP and keep a copy for your records. The original should be here in our office.
PLEASE remember to initial next to each trainee’s name, in the column on the far left. As explained, this is an audit procedure.
Please remember to check the box indicating whether it is for a parish or school. Many have the same name in the same town and we want to be sure to get the names on the right list.
If you are training people who wish to be on the list for both a parish and school of the same name, in the same town, please either use two separate sign-in sheets and indicate that, or have the person fill out the next line under the name with the second site name and indicate that it is either a parish or school (whichever is different from the majority of your trainees).
Please fill out the form completely. We continue to get forms that do not have a training date, trainer’s name, etc.
Please put the full name of the school or parish at the top of the page. The forms are filed in alphabetical order by full name, not partial names, and it speeds up the process when we have the full name.
September 16, 2010
New CORI Manual Clarifications Greetings to all principals and a special thank you to everyone who attended the training this week. I hope that you have had a chance to read through the manuals and are finding them helpful. Please remember to let me (Debora Jones) know if you find anything that is missing, or anything which prompts further questions for you. You can reach me via telephone: 508-674-4681 or email: djones@cssdioc.org.
I have had some good questions at the meetings and some issues arise since then, so I wanted to post the following clarifications. Please read them carefully and as always, thank you for your diligence!
CORIs should be done on anyone who is working or volunteering and who is age 17 or older. If they are under 17, please do the training and know that you can still submit a CORI if you want to, but you should have the parent’s permission and you can use a school ID, passport, or other reasonable form of ID.
The website does not yet have a secure section where we can post CORI forms, therefore we had not posted the CORI instructions yet. As of this week, we have posted the instructions for your convenience, but they are also in your manuals, in Section 5 starting on page 6.
The color for the volunteer forms for this year is blue. We have not yet decided on the color for next year’s forms, which will start January 1, 2011. Please note in your manuals, Section 6 page 1, the final dates for which any volunteer CORI from one year can be submitted the following year. NO exceptions will be made.
There may have been some confusion about how CORI forms are processed. We discussed at length the fact that volunteer CORI forms only need to be submitted every 12 months, meaning that the next one is due 12 months from the date that the last one cleared. If you have volunteers who need to do continuous service, please submit their form 2 – 4 weeks in advance of the due date to ensure timely results from the Commonwealth. We DO NOT throw out or disregard multiple CORIs on people; in fact, we process them regardless, but we do ask that you do your best not to send in CORIs unnecessarily. Keeping close to the due date eliminates extra work for all.
The instructions for the training sign-in sheets are on the website and in the manual (Section 7, page 17). Please do remember to put your initials in the far left column next to every trainee’s name, and please do not put a page number on the form. That is for the OCP binder page numbers. For additional information, please see the instructions in your manual or on the website.
Updated Video Coming Soon! Bishop Coleman has graciously approved the cost of adding several sections to the existing training video. The sections will cover grooming, Internet safety, bullying, suicide, and what to do when children disclose. These topics are covered briefly in the handout, which is in Section 7 of your manual (pp. 21-22). If you would like additional information on these topics, please contact Debora.
Our new DVDs will be ready for distribution in early October, so those of you who are struggling with outdated VHS tapes, please keep the faith. Help is on the way!
New Train the Trainer Session – Thursday, September 30!! Mark your calendars—on Thursday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m., Debora will be at St. Francis of Assisi in Swansea to train some new volunteers as well as to refresh those who want to get updated on the current training process. The best way to learn how to train is to see it done by someone else, so if you are a DRE who never got trained, or if you are in need of a refresher, please contact Debora at (508) 674-4681. Nancy Story is hosting the event and her pastor has said that all are welcome.
AUGUST 2010
Some of the training sign-in sheets that have been submitted lately have been reproduced or altered. Please do not alter the form. It was created and formatted the way it is for a particular reason.
On the form, where you see “school/parish,” that means we need you to indicate the name of the school or parish for which the individuals are being trained. If you put both the name of your school and the parish it serves on that line, we are not sure if you want us to put all the names into both database lists (one for the school and one for the parish), or what the intent is.
Some have contacted the OCP to ask why they have not received any updated Excel spreadsheets in a while, or even in a very long time. The answer is simple: if you don’t get an update from us, it’s because we have not received any new information from you. At this time, the Excel spreadsheets go out only to show you what we have added to or changed in your information. If we haven’t received anything new, we don’t send anything out. So, if you have sent us training sheets and CORI forms recently and have not received any updated list, please contact Cheryl Bedard at (508) 674-4681. If you have had any problems with forms arriving at our office, feel free to call to tell us a packet is on the way, or email Debora at djones@cssdioc.org. She can be on the lookout for the forms and send you an email confirming that they have arrived.
PLEASE NOTE!! Training sheets that are sent without all the corresponding CORI forms will not be processed as you might think! The process is that when a batch of CORIs arrive with a training sheet, all the names are on the sheet and have the completed CORI form, with the proper ID, are processed for background checks. Only when the CORI has cleared, are those names entered into the Excel spreadsheets you are used to seeing. If a CORI is submitted and is incomplete, it will be sent back to you. However, if there are one or two CORIs missing, or more, the CORI Department cannot and will not send the sheet back to have you submit the CORI, nor will they enter the training date into the Excel sheet, since there is no corresponding CORI. Given the large volume of CORIs that are submitted to us each year, the CORI Department also cannot hold those training sheets, hoping that a CORI will follow. Thus, if a CORI is submitted later, the training date will show up as missing and you will have to resubmit the training sheet to show that the person was trained.
This may seem punitive, but it is not intended to be so at all. Last audit year, our CORI Department processed over 9,100 CORI forms. There is simply no way that two people can hold and track all of the forms that are sent to us in pieces, as it were. The bottom line is that it is best to take a few minutes and review your paperwork before sending it to us. Complete paperwork saves everyone in the long run and we can all appreciate a smoothly running system!
As always, we appreciate your understanding and cooperation and know that everyone is working hard to ensure that we are in total compliance with the Charter. As much as the details may be annoying at times, it is all in the interest of protecting our children, and there is no way to put a price on the safety of a child.
GENERAL NEWS!
“The Blue Books are coming; the Blue Books are coming!” Whoops, they are here! The new “blue books,” which are now green, are in!! They are the updated Policy and Procedure books for abuse prevention for the Diocese. Since there are nearly 120 sites that need new books, there is no way that we can deliver all of them. If you are heading this way, please contact Debora at (508) 674-4681 or at djones@cssdioc.org and let her know how many books you need. You can pick them up during our regular business hours (Matt, please insert link here). Or, if you are willing to be a pick up site for your area, please let her know so we can deliver books to you and parishes or schools can pick them up at your site. We intend for everyone who has already been trained and is still actively working or volunteering in the Diocese to have a new book. It is effective July 1, so once you get your new ones, the old ones should be recycled or discarded.
Summer is supposed to be a time of relaxation, but not for the OCP Office! Debora is working on new training manuals for all of the individuals who do abuse prevention training or handle CORI processing in the Diocese. The intent is also to schedule training sessions with everyone so that there are no lingering questions over how to do this work. Planning for the training sessions is under way, so stay tuned! In the meantime, check the website (FAQs or Forms pages) for information, or contact Debora directly. Once the manuals are done, the website will also be revised and reorganized to make it easier to find what you are looking for. If you haven’t looked at it in a long time, please check it out. We have added a lot in the past year! www.cssdioc.org
We have a date for our own site audit. It will be the week of November 5, 2010, and by that time, we need to have every site in full compliance with the Charter. The site visit will take an entire week, during which time, the auditors review our record keeping and documentation in detail to see if what we report is accurate. And, they also may make surprise visits to the parishes. Ah, yes, that explains our need to get everyone up to speed quickly. Don’t worry, we are here to help, but we also need everyone working hard to make this happen.
There are also plans to update the video, given all the feedback that we get about it being dated. It is made specifically for our Diocese and has to cover all situations, including parishes, schools and extracurricular activities. As you can imagine, it’s a challenge to do that and please everyone, so if you have ideas for a new format, please contact Debora at (508) 674-4681. This has to be done quickly in order for it to be ready for the big autumn training rush!
March 31, 2010
FINAL NOTICE!
This is a final reminder that the ONLY training sign-in sheet that will be accepted after April 1, 2010, is the new one that was sent out in October of 2009. If you are still using the old one, please follow this link to the form and download a master of the new form. The instructions are also on the website, so please read the instructions as well. Many of the forms are being submitted with page numbers, which are only put on in the OCP office, or without the initials of the trainers in the far left column. If you have any questions, please call Debora at 508-674-4681. Any old forms that are submitted after April 1 will not be processed and will be returned to you, meaning that you will need to have your attendees re-sign the sheet on the new form and resubmit it to the OCP.
AUDIT PAGE ADDITIONS
There audit rotation schedule is now posted for both parishes and schools. Please check the audit page of either the DRE Resources section or the School Resources section to see when your site will be audited.
As sites pass their individual audits, they will also be listed on the site. Stay tuned to see who is first!
March 1, 2010
There have been some fairly consistent issues with CORIs that are submitted to the CSS office, so please remember the following:
The new training sign-in sheet, effective November 1, 2009, is the only sheet that will be accepted for trainings. Any sheets from this point forward that are submitted on old forms will be returned and new signatures will be needed. If you need another copy, please contact Debora at 508-674-4681 or at djones@cssdioc.org.
CORIs and training sheets should be submitted as soon as possible after the training has been completed, but no less than once a month. We are getting CORIs that were completed last September, which means they are not on the correct color form. More importantly, anyone who has been volunteering since completing the training, but whose CORI has not been submitted, has been volunteering without going through a proper background check. This is a safety and liability issue for your site, so please remember the Diocesan policy that all volunteers are to be trained and CORId.
Just as a clarification, the renewal times for CORIs are as follows: volunteers must be complete a CORI every 12 months. Employees must complete a CORI every three years.
CORIs cannot be processed without a photo ID. If they are submitted without a copy of the ID, they have to be returned to you. We have no choice.
CORI forms cannot be faxed to the CSS office. The photo ID is unreadable, given the quality of faxes, and the photos come out black, which negates the reason for having a photo in the first place. The only copies that can be accepted are ones that are sent through the mail or delivered to the office.
Many CORI forms are being submitted without proper signatures or with other information missing. If you are unsure of what needs to be filled out, please contact Debora at the Office for Child Protection at CSS. She can walk you through the form and explain it.
It is the responsibility of each parish and school to create a tracking system for when your employees and volunteers need to have CORIs renewed. The Excel spreadsheet that we send to you shows the type (employee or volunteer) for each person as well as the date the last CORI cleared. Some have struggled to find a way to keep track of all of the due dates, especially at larger sites, so here is one suggestion (thank you, Arlene)!
Try going through your lists and breaking up the due dates into quarters, such as Jan. – March, April – June, etc. List everyone in that quarter who is due for a renewal CORI and have them done at the beginning of the quarter. Remember that we have no control over how quickly the state will process CORIs, nor do we have control over how forms are submitted to us. If you happen to send a batch to us during a busy time, there is no guarantee that we can process it as quickly as you might like, and then we still have the unknown with how the state process the forms. Many times, we have to wait 2-3 weeks and then resubmit when the CORIs never come through.
This is also a reminder to submit early if you have an event coming up. We are still getting requests for CORIs to be done in a week or less because of a field trip or other event, and there is simply no way that we can guarantee such a turnover. So, plan early or understand that we may not be able to get all of your volunteers CORId in time.
Every time you get a new Excel spreadsheet from our office, please go through the list. If you see names of people who are no longer working or volunteering for you, please contact us. We keep one master list of everyone who has ever worked or volunteered for you, but the list we send you is intended to be current. Therefore, we need to be advised if anyone joins or leaves your site. Once we have been told, it is our responsibility to update the list, so please also feel free to check our work and let us know if we miss something. Also, if someone changes a last name, we need to know that as well.
Finally, please know that we appreciate all your hard work and do not set guidelines to make your work more difficult. We have to set guidelines because we also have to meet certain standards and cannot do that without your help.
If you have any questions about this or any other topic related to child protection, please contact the OCP at 508-674-4681 or emailing Debora at djones@cssdioc.org.
February 22, 2010
Sexual Abuse Prevention Trainings
The Office for Child Protection, located in Fall River, provides training sessions every Tuesday night from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Fall River office. We do ask for registration prior to the training session, to give us time to arrange for the necessary training space. Please follow the link to the training page to get all the information you need on our weekly trainings.
Please note that if a new principal starts at any time during the year, the OCP must provide additional training on how to conduct the sexual abuse prevention training for volunteers. This will be done at your school at a time that is convenient for you and the Coordinator of the OCP. Please call 508-674-4681 to arrange a trainer’s training.
The Audits Are Here . . . The Audits Are Here!!
Yes, the time for annual audits of both schools and parishes has arrived. Meetings are currently being scheduled for the audits, which will take approximately one hour. Please see the Audit Process Page for more information on what the process involves.
The OCP now has an audit rotation plan for every school and parish to be audited once every three years. For the years that a site audit is not taking place in your school, we will assume that the best practices established or documented as a result of the audit will remain intact. If there are any questions at all, remember that we are always here to serve you and are more than happy to answer questions or provide any assistance you may need. Please call 508-674-4681 or email Debora Jones at djones@cssdioc.org.
