As a means of ensuring that the environment of Brother Martin High School is wholesome and nurturing for young people, we educate all of our students, faculty, and parents about the prevention of abuse and harassment. This practice is mandated by the Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Safe Environment and by our Brother Martin Board of Directors' policies. Though this school year has had significant disruptions, we feel this issue deserves careful attention. All underclassmen religion classes will focus on at least one class period on the topic of prevention of abuse and harassment. In addition, adult training classes are offered to school volunteers throughout the school year.
Several handouts will be distributed including the following:
Important Resources:
Our intent in focusing instructional time on this issue is proactive prevention. We want to better equip our students to protect themselves and their friends from any person or situation that should threaten them. We encourage parents to discuss these issues and the handouts used in our instructional activities with their sons.
Eighth-grade students will spend one day in religion classes during the month of November focusing especially on prevention of peer harassment. Emphasis will be placed on aspects of our school behavior policy that address issues of respect and harassment. The handout "Protecting Yourself" that was used with the 9th-grade unit (a link to this document is to the right) will also be used in the eighth-grade classes.
