Memo to: Parents, Grandparents + All Volunteers

From: Patricia E. Brady, Head of School

RE: Safe Environment and Virtus Training – 2025

The safety of our children is of utmost importance. The Diocese of Bridgeport, through the Office of Safe Environments, provides tools to enable all of us to ensure their safety. For the safety of the children, the Office of the Bishop REQUIRES ALL volunteers over the age of 18 to:

1) Attend a “Protecting God’s Children” or Virtus” training session and sign the related release for a background check:

• Go to www.virtus.org
• On the left side of the screen, click on “First-Time Registrant”
• Click on “Begin the Registration Process” then find “Bridgeport, CT (Diocese)” click on “select”
• Follow the instructions on the screen to complete a user id and password and the registration process

2) Review the Safe Environments Handbook Here and sign that you have completed the review.

ALL VOLUNTEERS of any kind in any capacity (classroom activities, field trips, volunteering) within the Diocese of Bridgeport must comply. Even if you are planning to volunteer only once during the year, or volunteer only in the church you are required to attend.

The Diocese of Bridgeport requires us to keep an updated list of persons within The Catholic Academy of Stamford who have attended a Safe Environments Training Session. If you have not completed the above requirements thus far, but would like to volunteer at the school, please register for an upcoming session.

Many thanks for helping us to keep our records and the records of the Diocese up to date. For the convenience of staff and volunteer coordinators, we will keep records online of volunteers who have completed the diocesan requirements. 

We welcome parent participation throughout the school year. If you are a new parent, or a current parent who is not yet trained, you must complete all required steps in order to volunteer at The Catholic Academy of Stamford in any capacity.

Renewal is easy! Is your VIRTUS Certificate up to date? Are you about to expire? VIRTUS Certificates are valid for 5 years. Did you know that if your certificate has expired, you only need to take the refresher course?  The course is only about an hour long, you watch videos and answer questions. You can take the course at anytime, there is no need to sign up for a zoom. Just click this link to log into your account and follow the instructions to the course. 

If you need to know the status of your account please email Mrs. S for details at kszymanowski@catholicacademystamford.org.

Please see helpful links below.

• Office of Safe Environment
• Safe Environment Handbook