Carson Middle School

History

Carson Middle School began as Carson Intermediate High School (CIHS), built in 1969. It was named for North Allegheny Senior High School's then-principal John T. Carson and served grades 9 and 10. In 1974, grades 9 and 10 moved to the current building of North Allegheny Intermediate High School. CIHS's name changed to Carson Middle School, for grades 6 to 8.

In 1994, Carson was named a Blue Ribbon school. To display this, a blue ribbon is shown above one of the entrances to the school.

Academics

Carson Middle School achieved 90.6 out of 100. Reflects on grade level reading, writing, mathematics and science achievement. In reading, 87% of the students were on grade level. In Mathematics, 89% of the students showed on grade level skills. In Science, 75% of the 8th graders demonstrated n grade level understanding. In writing, 91% of the 8th grade students were on grade level. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, 2,181 public schools (less than 73 percent of Pennsylvania public schools), achieved an academic score of 70 or higher.

In 2013, Carson Middle School 8th grade ranked 6th out of 149 western Pennsylvania middle schools. The 7th grade ranked 10th and the 6th grade ranked 43rd. In 2009, the 8th grade was ranked 7th out of 141 western Pennsylvania middle schools based on three years of student academic achievement in PSSAs in: reading, math writing and one year of science. (Includes schools in: Allegheny County, Beaver County, Butler County, Fayette County, Westmoreland County, and Washington County.)

From 2003 through 2012, Carson Middle School achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status each year.

GOAL

GOAL (Gifted Opportunities for Advanced Learning) is a gifted student program in North Allegheny, where students scoring high on assessment tests, like PSSA or IOWA testing, take a specialized test to get into the GOAL program. The gifted program adds extra curriculum to a regular class, when one or two days per week are reserved for the GOAL teacher to come into the class and teach the students alternative skills than the ones that other students take regularly. The Carson GOAL teacher is Dana Boyd. In 2014, 12.66% of Carson Middle School's students were identified as gifted.

Schedule

The school starts at 8:20 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. There are 8 classes in a day, including the lunch period. Each period lasts 48 minutes, with the exception of the lunch periods, which last 30 minutes. There are 15 minutes allocated for reading, called SSR, also known as DEAR each day.

The bell schedule is based on a system revolving around the lunch periods. Since each grade eats lunch at different times, periods 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are either 30 minutes or 18 minutes long. Two pairs of these period names are attached every day to make a single period, such as "Period 4/5", "Period 5/6", or "Period 7/8". This changes for different grades, i.e. in 6th grade, a period might be called 5/6, and in 7th grade, a period might be called 4/5.

Each school day is either an "A Day" or a "B Day". If one school day is an A Day, the next school day will be a B Day, and so on. The purpose of these names are to switch special classes, like a musical class, which are Band, Orchestra, Chorus, and General Music, and a Physical Education class. On A Days, a student will either have a music class or a P.E. class, and the next day, he/she will have the other one.

Usually, Wednesdays and Thursdays of every week have what are called "Activity Periods." This is a 41-minute-long study hall at the end of the day. Students can do their homework, study, visit the school library or a computer lab, make up tests, etc.

Schedules change on 2-hour Delay days due to weather or technical problems. On these days, classes are shortened and if there is an Activity Period scheduled, it is canceled.

School safety and bullying

The Carson Middle School administration reported there were zero incidents of bullying in the district in 2012. Each year the school safety data is reported by the district to the Safe School Center which publishes the reports online.

The North Allegheny School Board has provided the District's antibully policy online. All Pennsylvania schools are required to have an anti-bullying policy incorporated into their Code of Student Conduct. The policy must identify disciplinary actions for bullying and designate a school staff person to receive complaints of bullying. The policy must be available on the school's website and posted in every classroom. All Pennsylvania public schools must provide a copy of its anti-bullying policy to the Office for Safe Schools every year, and shall review their policy every three years. Additionally, the District must conduct an annual review of that policy with students. The Center for Schools and Communities works in partnership with the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime & Delinquency and the Pennsylvania Department of Education to assist schools and communities as they research, select and implement bullying prevention programs and initiatives.

Education standards relating to student safety and antiharassment programs are described in the 10.3. Safety and Injury Prevention in the Pennsylvania Academic Standards for Health, Safety and Physical Education.

Wellness policy

North Allegheny School Board established a district wellness policy in 2006. The policy deals with nutritious meals served at school, the control of access to some foods and beverages during school hours, age appropriate nutrition education for all students, and physical education for students K-12. The policy is in response to state mandates and federal legislation (P.L. 108 – 265). The law dictates that each school district participating in a program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1751 et seq) or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et seq) "shall establish a local school wellness policy by School Year 2006." Most districts identified the superintendent and school foodservice director as responsible for ensuring local wellness policy implementation.

The legislation placed the responsibility of developing a wellness policy at the local level so the individual needs of each district can be addressed. According to the requirements for the Local Wellness Policy, school districts must set goals for nutrition education, physical activity, campus food provision, and other school-based activities designed to promote student wellness. Additionally, districts were required to involve a broad group of individuals in policy development and to have a plan for measuring policy implementation. Districts were offered a choice of levels of implementation for limiting or prohibiting low nutrition foods on the school campus. In final implementation these regulations prohibit some foods and beverages on the school campus. The Pennsylvania Department of Education required the district to submit a copy of the policy for approval.

The School offers a free school breakfast and free or reduced-price lunch to children in low income families. All students attending the school can eat breakfast and lunch. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level are provided a breakfast and lunch at no cost to the family. Children from families with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the federal poverty level can be charged no more than 30 cents per breakfast. A foster child whose care and placement is the responsibility of the State or who is placed by a court with a caretaker household is eligible for both a free breakfast and a free lunch. Runaway, homeless and Migrant Youth are also automatically eligible for free meals. The meals are partially funded with federal dollars through the United States Department of Agriculture.

In 2013, the USDA issued new restrictions to foods in public schools. The rules apply to foods and beverages sold on all public school district campuses during the day. They limit vending machine snacks to a maximum of 200 calories per item. Additionally, all snack foods sold at school must meet competitive nutrient standards, meaning they must have fruits, vegetables, dairy or protein in them or contain at least 10 percent of the daily value of fiber, calcium, potassium, and Vitamin D. In order to comply with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 all US public school districts are required to raise the price of their school lunches to $2.60 regardless of the actual cost of providing the lunch.

North Allegheny School District provides health services at Carson Middle School as mandated by the Commonwealth and the federal government. Nurses are available in each building to conduct annual health screenings (data reported to the PDE and state Department of Health) and to dispense prescribed medications to students during the school day. Students can be excluded from school unless they comply with all the State Department of Health’s extensive immunization mandates. School nurses monitor each pupil for this compliance. Nurses also monitor each child's weight.

Teacher of the Year

Carson is also home to the 2008 Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, David Woten, Jr. He is the choral teacher for grades 6 and 7, and also one of the general music teachers to grade 8.

Mrs. Anne Funk was honored in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for being 2009 Pennsylvania Orchestra Teacher of the Year.

Events

On March 7, 2008, Dr. Marcia Martin died from cancer. She was the 15-year principal of Carson Middle School from 1989 to 2004, and was a teacher in Carson earlier for another 16 years.

John Yastion, a custodian at Carson Middle School since 2003, was recognized for saving a man's life after he had a seizure, on November 13, 2008. He was commended by the North Allegheny Board of Directors for his actions.

Once a month, Carson Middle School hosts the River City Brass Band. The band performs in the auditorium on a Friday night, September through May.