District & School Policies

Carnegie Middle School does not allow or accept food deliveries from any delivery services, such as restaurants,  Doordash, GrubHub, Uber Eats or any other vendor delivery service-  

All such deliveries will be refused. 

Carnegie Middle School will not be responsible for any cost or loss of food associated with food deliveries.

FREE breakfast and lunch are available to ALL students. Breakfast is available in the cafeteria from 7:30-7:55.  Lunch is available for pick up in the cafeteria during your scheduled lunchtime.

Parents/legal guardians may deliver food to the front office for their student only..

On occasion a parent may feel the need to visit their child's class(es). Please be advised that Carnegie's parent visitation policy requires the parent to request a visit 24 hours in advance. Once the teacher(s) have been advised of your visit, you will receive a phone call confirming your appointment. Parents should check in at the front office and have a short orientation with one of the administration (going over the rules about classroom expectations). At the conclusion of your visit, please check out at the front office and, at the parent's request, you may desire to debrief with one of the administration. 

Carnegie follows the SJUSD Board Policy #1250

All of the Carnegie rules are included in the agenda book that is given free to each student at the beginning of the year. Please refer to this when looking for school policies.

In an effort to maintain a positive, productive learning environment for all students throughout the school year, Carnegie utilizes a merit system.  Because participation in school sponsored extracurricular activities is a privilege, students must put forth their best effort, on a daily basis, to adhere to Carnegie’s Core Expectation of OWN IT. 

Students start Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 with 100 merits; Quarters 2, 3 and 4 are combined. Merits reset after the 1st quarter only.

Students lose merits as a disciplinary measure (i.e., tardy, dress code, class suspension, etc.). Following restorative practices, students may earn merits in multiple ways: after school campus cleanup, etc.).
Merits

100	Platinum Level Great Work! Student is eligible for all social activities and other rewards
99-91	Gold Level (no consequences/ineligible for Platinum Rewards)
90 (and less)	Student placed on Social Probation*

*A student on Social Probation is not allowed to participate in the following school functions: dances, field trips, barbeques, student store, assemblies, skate/pool parties, and other functions the school notes as being part of Social Probation (see Social Probation section).

Tardy to Class	-1 merit
Electronic Device Infraction	-1 merit
Dress Code Violation	-1 merit
Food in the Wrong Area	-1 merit
Violating Classroom Policy	-1 merit
Item Taken	-1 merit
Multiple detentions issued on same day	-1 merit
Classroom Disruption	-1 merit
Classroom Suspension	-1 merit
After School Detention	-2 merits
Detention No-Show	-2 merits
Hallway Disruption	-2 merits
Behavior Contract	-3 merits
On-Site Suspension	-5 merits/per day
Home Suspension	-5 merits/per day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earning Merits:
Restorative Practices strengthen connections between individuals and communities. In school settings, restorative practices reconnect students to the school. Students lose merits for infractions, and when they participate in restorative practices, they earn merits back.

Students may earn merits by supporting the school and staff in 20-minute increments:
Lunchtime Campus Beautification:
20 minutes +1 merit

After School Campus Beautification:
20 or 40 minutes +1 or 2 merits, respectively. No more than 40 minutes on any given day.

Students can earn merits to maintain the 92 merit eligibility requirement by volunteering for “School Beautification” either at lunch period or after school.  School Beautification has a limited amount of spaces, therefore students must sign up in advance with one of the following individuals:

Incentive-Based Contract
Students who frequently violate class policies and procedures in multiple classrooms may be placed on an incentive-based behavior contract. The goal of the contract is to help struggling students learn, understand and exemplify appropriate classroom behavior.

Incentive-based Behavior Contracts list three behavior goals, and the students earn points from each teacher. If the student meets an 80% point goal for the day, they receive an acknowledgement at the end of the day. If they do not meet the goal, they have a brief discussion with their Check Out person about what to do differently the following day.
Students must pass 80% of the days in a week (4 of 5) in order to have a passing week.

Students are released from contract when they have five consecutive passing weeks.
Students may be placed on Behavior Contract for the following reasons:
- 3 or more teachers agree a Behavior Contract is appropriate for the student
- Administration discretion due to chronic misbehavior

Consequence-Based Contract Cocoon Contract
Students who fail 2 of 3 weeks on the incentive-based contract or participate in a severely unsafe incident (i.e, assaulting another student) may be placed on Cocoon contract. Cocoon contract isolates students from friends during social times of the school day: passing periods and lunch. Students on Cocoon contract participate fully in all of their classes.

The Cocoon contract carries consequences of In-House Suspension and/or Home Suspension. Cocoon contract allows for three mistakes in one day, the third mistake resulting in PASS (In-House Suspension). If a student hits PASS two (2) of the five (5) days on Cocoon contract, there will be a home suspension and the student returns on Day 1 of Cocoon Contract.

We recommend families use the Q Parent Connection (parent portal) for ALL attendance needs.

If a student has an absence that needs to be cleared, or is unable to attend a school day or a class period, please notify Carnegie by one of these methods:

Please follow these guidelines to clear your student's absences-

 1 - Log in to the Q Parent Connection (parent portal) and click on Report Absence in the upper right corner.  Complete the required fields and be sure to click on SUBMIT to transmit the information to our Attendance Office. 

 2 - Send an email to the Attendance Office at carnegieabsence@sanjuan.edu

 3 - Phone Carnegie's 24-hour Attendance Line at (916) 971-7853, extension 1 and provide the following information: student's full name, your relationship to the student, date(s) of the absence(s), and the reason for the absence.  

For early dismissals, please come into the attendance office to request an early dismissal for your student.  Your student will need to be signed out by the person that is picking them up, for any reason.  The person picking your student up MUST be on the student's contact list with the school, unless prearranged with staff.  Contacts can be added through the Parent Portal or by coming into the office and requesting the office staff add them. 

For the safety of all students the office cannot take early dismissal requests by phone, except in cases of emergency.  If an early dismissal MUST be phoned in, please call when you are no more than 5 minutes away so your student will not miss valuable classroom time. 

If possible, please advise your student before school that you will be picking them up early and what time you will be here, especially if you will be picking them up during their lunchtime.  If you need to pick your student up during their lunchtime, it will typically take much longer than if they are in their scheduled classroom. 

Please plan accordingly and allow plenty of time for early dismissals.