s/o male teachers at church- "two deep"policy

[Dmmetler]

Public (and I believe private as well) schools are required to do pretty intensive background checks and pre-service training, and that's on top of what teachers go through to be licensed. Volunteers also have to go through fingerprinting, background checks, and training as well. It got kind of frustrating for awhile, because there were a couple of years when I ended up being fingerprinted/background checked 5-6x in a single year, between paid work, church work, DD's school, and volunteering at a charter school.

[Mommie_Jen]

Haven't read all the replies, but just chiming in.

 

We are a church of about 250. Over the last few years, we've worked hard to implement a safe child policy. All our children are in a children's wing. There is a front desk that is manned by volunteers. You sign your child in and out and they are released to only you unless notified at check in. Each class has 2 adults. There is 1 boy bathroom pass and 1 girl bathroom pass at the front check in desk. If the kid is old enough to go by themselves, they take the pass, that way all are sure there is only 1 person in the bathroom at a time. The restrooms are right outside of the check in area, so the desk volunteer knows who is coming and going. If a young one needs to use the restroom, the desk volunteer takes them and a teacher will watch the front area from the hallway.

 

We've added security cameras this year too. They are recorded, but not necessarily monitored live constantly. You can check on your child from the monitors though if you want to. It's to protect any adults from accusations as well as to protect the children. Our back yard area is fenced in with cameras also, it's where the kids play and we are adding a playground later this year. If you don't have church clearance, you are not allowed back in the children's wing when kids are there.

 

Anyone who works in the children's dept, from nursery to teens, gets 2 different background checks, fills out a questionnaire, and undergoes training about spotting predators and grooming behavior. Once a kid reaches jr/sr high age, they move out of the children's wing and to the teen area. They don't need to be checked in or out by an adult, but there are still cameras and the (at least) 2 adult policy.

 

Except for the restrooms, every door in the church (to classrooms and offices, kitchen area, etc) have windows.

 

At first, it seemed like a lot of overkill, but we're used to it now. We just don't want to give anyone a reason to even question anything at all. And really, I know about 75% of the church members well enough to trust them, really trust them. We have plenty of men that help from the preschool age on up. The men that help in the nursery usually are dragged into it by their wives. ;)

 

This is just part of the way security has changed at our church in the last few years. Our church has a lot of doors to enter by. About 15 minutes after the service has started, all doors but the main ones are locked. (You can get out but not in.) The front unlocked door is monitored by ushers. We know emergency exits and have a lockdown policy (as well as fire and tornado).

 

Um, wow. Reading all that makes us sound crazy. We're not, I swear. We're not militant or extremists. Our leadership (our local church as well as our denomination, to an extent) has just really felt that this was something that we needed to do, especially with church shootings making the news occasionally. Some people think it's overkill. I'm so used to it that I was a bit shocked when our homeschool co-op ended last week and they just turned all the kids loose at once go. It was our first time there, and with an anxious kindergartner, it was a bit panic inducing for both him and me to automatically not know where to find each other.

[PeacefulChaos]

^^^^ You don't sound crazy. I think that sounds perfect. :)

[Mama2Many4]

I'm a CCD teacher for my church for 5th grade. It's just me, as is just one per teacher for all other grades. We've never had a problem with anyone wanting more than one teacher per classroom. All of public school has one teacher per class. Is this just a Sunday school thing for some?

[kiwik]

I do the rosters. If you have a child in creche one parent is rostered on unless there is a good reason not to be (illness, recent birth, playing music, preaching etc, birthed have two on because we have 12 to 16 under 5 the majority are under 3. We have one man on the roster (3 of the kids are his and his wife does the Sunday school) and one early teen boy (Sunday school end at 12 years). We have 3 people who take turns to do 5 to 12. They have an assistant at the moment. We don't do checks,lock doors or have security but then we don't live in a high risk area or have large numbers of people.

Edited September 19, 2012 by kiwik