In early November, secondary students in Boise School District (and some charter schools and other school districts) will take a 45-minute mental health assessment. Notification of the assessment was sent, or will be sent soon, likely via e-mail or included in the school newsletter or similar method to parents, but the actual assessment likely will not be provided. The assessment was created by Communities for Youth and may be requested from them (contact info available in the notification letter and included, below) or you may view the full assessment, linked, below.
The notification letter includes information about Communities for Youth, purpose of administering the assessment, a list of sensitive topics included, and information on how to opt out via this form or by filling out and returning the opt out form at the bottom of the notification letter. For more info regarding District Policy on parental permission for student surveys, see the section at the very end of this post. Depending on your school, you may have been sent this first notification letter last week with limited information on sensitive topics and an incorrect e-mail address (week of 10/17/22) and a second, more detailed letter including a more extensive list of sensitive topics and a correct contact e-mail this week (10/24/22).
The notification letter does not include a link to the actual assessment, but may be obtained by contacting Communities for Youth via the e-mail and/or phone number provided in the notification letter and is included, below:
Communities for Youth Contact info:
phone: 208-991-4442
website: https://www.communitiesforyouth.org/
Team: https://www.communitiesforyouth.org/team-3 Partners: https://www.communitiesforyouth.org/our-partners
If you choose to request the assessment (pdf available here), you will likely be provided with a summary (below) that includes a link at the bottom to the full assessment (available here), which you may click through without actually answering so you may review all of the questions.
Here are screenshots of some questions that some parents may find sensitive in-nature (these are in no particular order):
Here is a list of Communities for Youth's partners, according to their website:
Boise School District Policy 4310 "Projects and Solicitations" specifically addresses parental permission for research projects that include student surveys.
Here is a screenshot of the introduction to the mental health assessment, wherein the survey administrator from BSU refers to the assessment as a "study" and a "research project".
