Dear Bishop Kelly Families,

We want to inform you about an upcoming program evaluation project that will take place in conjunction with Bishop Kelly High School’s Red Ribbon Week programming. Kali Westfall is a student in the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at Idaho State University. As part of her Doctor of Nursing Practice project, she is partnering with Bishop Kelly High School to evaluate this year’s Red Ribbon Week substance use prevention activities. The purpose of this project is to evaluate and strengthen our existing substance use prevention programming by incorporating interactive activities focused on peer engagement, refusal and coping skills, healthy decision-making, and school connectedness.

As part of the project, students in grades 9–12 will have the opportunity to voluntarily complete brief anonymous questionnaires before and after Red Ribbon Week activities. The questionnaires will include questions about past-year substance use and students’ confidence in their ability to refuse substances in situations involving vaping, alcohol, marijuana, or other drugs. The post program questionnaire will also ask students for feedback about the Red Ribbon Week activities and which activities they would recommend continuing in the future.

• Pre-program Questionnaire: Tuesday, October 20 th , during house time
• Initial Post-program Questionnaire: Tuesday, November 3rd, during house time
• Secondary Post-program Questionnaire: In March 2027, TBD.

Questionnaire participation is voluntary and anonymous. No student names, student identification numbers, email addresses, or other direct identifying information will be collected. Responses will be reported at the group level rather than linked to individual students. Students may choose not to participate, may skip any question they do not wish to answer, or may stop completing a questionnaire at any time without penalty.

Participation in the questionnaires is separate from participation in Red Ribbon Week activities. Students may participate in Red Ribbon Week activities even if they do not complete the questionnaires.

Some questionnaire questions and Red Ribbon Week activities will address topics such as alcohol, vaping, marijuana, other substance use, peer pressure, stress, and decision-making. These topics may cause some students to experience mild or temporary discomfort, embarrassment, or anxiety. Students will not be required to share personal substance-use experiences publicly. Participation in the questionnaires is voluntary, and students may skip any question or stop at any time without penalty.

Student well-being and privacy will be prioritized throughout the project. Four school counselors are available at Bishop Kelly High School for students who would like additional support. Students will also be provided with information about local crisis and behavioral health resources in the Boise area. Because questionnaire responses are anonymous and cannot be linked to individual students, support resources will be made available to all students rather than provided in response to an individual student's questionnaire answers.

If you do not wish for your student to participate in the questionnaires, you may opt your student out by completing This Opt-Out Google Form. If you do not opt your student out, your student will still have the choice to participate when the questionnaires are offered.

Thank you for your continued support.

God Bless and Go Knights!

Dr. Sarah Quilici

Principal