Over the summer a subset of the RE committee worked on updating the RE Safety Policy. In the time of regathering it is important to review our safety rules and ensure that all of the guidelines that we follow are recorded in one document. In addition to reviewing All Souls’ RE safety policy, committee members also reviewed other UUA congregations policies, UUA Safer Congregations guidelines, insurance provider safety guidelines, and child abuse prevention group’s recommendations. A big thank you to Barbara Corprew, Lowell Unger, and Juliet Gray for taking on this task!
The new safety policy was approved by the CYRE Committee and the Executive Team in August 2023 and consists of many practices we have observed in the past with some updates for 2023: practices to ensure safe restroom use for young children and electronic communication guidelines for middle and high-school aged youth.
The full RE Safety Policy can be found on the church policy governance webpage. The 2023 version of RE Safety Policy supersedes any other RE Safety Policies that have existed in the past.
A safety policy is a living document. Each year the RE Safety Policy will be reviewed and updated as needed. This year we will practice living our safety policy updates. Parent, child, and volunteer feedback is important to the process of updating and living a safety policy. We will have may opportunities for folks to ask questions and seek clarification about the policy in the coming weeks:
Emails are always welcome! Correspondence can be sent to RE staff or the CYRE committee at any time.
An RE Open House will be held on October 1st after service. We welcome your questions about the safety policy and any other RE-related topic! RE staff and CYRE committee members will be present. Information about location will be available in the RE Weekly newsletter, the church newsletter, and on the church calendar. An additional Open House will be held in November.
Safety policy changes will be a topic of conversation in all RE classes in September. Safety rules are more effective when everyone is aware of what types of behaviors are expected and which types are not. We welcome feedback from children and youth on these policies.