Student Safety

The leadership and staff of St. Rose of Lima School are committed to creating and fostering a safe environment for all of our students. We continually strive to improve the safety of our school through grants and fundraising for improving facilities, inspections, continuing education for our staff and volunteers, reviewing our safety policies regularly at LAC Board meetings, with diocesan leadership, and with many other opportunities as they arise. A few of the ways we address student safety are:

• Having one access point to enter our school. Everyone who enters must identify themselves to staff and be buzzed inside in order to enter. 
• Supporting the Catholic Social Teaching of Dignity of the Human Person and attempting to provide a safe environment for all through this lens. Bullying and cyberbullying, both verbal or written threats are taken seriously and not permitted. 
• All staff are mandated reporters under the Michigan Child Protection Act. If there is any suspected abuse of a child it will be reported to be investigated. 

St. Rose of Lima School participates in the Diocesan Virtus Program. Students receive classroom instruction twice a year. All individuals who work with children, including chaperoning a student event or field trip, must attend a Virtus Training Session and pass a criminal background check. Protecting God's Children is training conducted by a VIRTUS certified facilitators on the prevention of child sexual abuse. The training makes participants aware of the signs of child sexual abuse, the methods and means by which offenders commit abuse, and five easy steps one can use to prevent child sexual abuse. The facilitator incorporates policies and procedures into the training defining child sexual abuse, addressing the reporting of child sexual abuse, the screening and selection of employees and volunteers, and victim advocacy. 

St. Rose of Lima School has clear and defined procedures and policies on handling of emergencies such as tornado and severe weather warning, fire, lockdown situations, and others. Please refer to the Parent Handbook to view these procedures. 

According to state regulations, the school has five fire drills, two tornado drills, and two lockdown drills each year. A record is kept on file of the dates of the drills and the time taken for students to exit the building during the drill. Children are trained on how to respond to the sound of the alarm signals and where to go. Should parents be in the building at the time of the drill are to leave as quickly as possible through the nearest exit or go to the designated spot. 

The Goretti Project is a family integrated approach to safe environment education for children. As the primary educators of their children, parents play an integral role in teaching their children how to create and maintain healthy boundaries in both the physical and digital world. Parishes and schools are able to assist parents in this role by providing them with current and ever-evolving resources that guide them in fostering greater conversation and relationship within their families. Some of the current resources utilized by our diocese include: the Empowering God’s Children program from Virtus, Protect Young Eyes, the Be Tech Ready program (supplied through Protect Young Eyes), content from Theology of the Body, and more.