Kristin Piotrowski

In the area of Sparta there are 41 registered sex offenders. A registered sex offender could have been charged with different crimes such as first, second, and third degree sexual assault, child pornography, statutory rape and many other crimes. Many rules and regulations have been set against sex offenders and for the school to ensure that every student who is attending a school is able to feel safe and protected while they are there. During an interview with school liason Officer Kyle Seubert he stated that if a sex offender were to come in contact with the school when he/she is not allowed to, then they would be arrested for violating those conditions. Seubert also said that his main concern is of the students safety.

"A student must be enrolled in any school, private, home or public," Sam Russ, principal of Sparta High School, said. He then went on to say, "If a student is court ordered to stay away from schools, then a public school must provide packets to the student to complete." There are those students who have been charged with a sex offender crime that are no longer able to come onto school property and then there are the students who have been charged but are still allowed to be at the school. These students that can still attend school have committed a less serious or less dangerous crime.

Every member of the community has the right to know about where the sex offenders live and what their charges are, and they can find out relatively easy. There are many websites out solely dedicated to informing people of potential dangerous situations such as www.watchdog.com. "An article comes out when the offender is released, notifying the community of where they are living, they also do things like broadcast it on the radio," Kyle said. Although these things are out to help people, then cannot say names of juveniles that have committed a crime. The police are also notified and they will step up their patrols. "Someone is assigned to them when they are released, they check up on them during the day to make sure they are abiding by the sanctions they are on," Kyle said. He also said that the person who is assigned to them, helps them find a job and a place to live until they can get back on their feet again. The department of corrections (DOC) assigns them that person who looks after them. The offender also has things paid for such as food and housing until they are able to take after themselves. Although they have become independent again they will always have their assigned case worker checking on them regularly.

Freshman Closed Campus

Matt Grobelch

At the beginning of the 2010 school year, the freshman closed campus was put into effect. The new policy is that the freshman are not allowed to leave campus for lunch. Then, for the following years, sophomores are not allowed to leave campus, then the juniors, then the seniors. During an interview, Alex Mason was asked how he felt about this situation. "I strongly disagree with this because I have friends with cars that can leave campus. I hope they do not make it where sophomores can not leave next year, then the juniors, then the seniors." There are good and bad parts that go along with this.

Many students feel this is a positive change. According to the students, when there are closed campuses, the tardies go down. It has been proved by surveyers that when students leave campus to go eat at home, friend's house, or a fast food place, they tend to arrive later for their next class due to traffic and lines at restaurants. So with a closed campus, the students will not have those tardies because they will already be at the high school.

The second thing is that when students leave campus for lunch, they tend not to come back at all. Now that no freshman can leave, it makes it harder for one of them to walk out and leave the building.

The third thing is when kids can not leave the school for lunch, the school is bringing in more revenue from food profits. When students leave to go out and eat, the school is not making any money from them because they are gone.

Finally when students go off campus, the environment can be harmed because of all the gases being burned and students will not have to pay for gas all the time.

The students feel that the first bad part of having closed campuses is that students are the number one customers for local restaurants in town. So if the students can not leave, the business are losing those customers and then they will have to close down. The second bad part is that when students can not leave for lunch, the lines to get food will become much longer and more hectic. Third, when students get their lunch some students may not have a place to sit so the space in the cafeteria will be limited. Fourth, the lunch ladies will have to work much harder and prepare more food, they will have to charge each individual student which can take a long time, and they may run out of food.

In an interview, Xavier Maisel, a freshman, was asked how he felt about this situation. "I think this was not one of the better decisions the school has made. I do not like this because I get really bored at lunch and have nothing to do."

Sparta High Undefeated Volleyball Team

Matt Grobelch

The Sparta High School girls volleyball team remains undefeated. At a home game on the 22 of September, the Sparta Girls Volleyball team played Holmen High School and beat them three of four games. First game was unfortunate for the Sparta girls when they lost 25 - 17. After that, the games got better. The second game was a victory for Sparta when they won 25 to 18. The third game was by far the best and most interesting game of the four. It started out that Sparta was down 10 - 0 at one point. But then Sparta was down 17 - 4 and then 17 - 8. Then the score was 20 to 15. The next thing you know the score was 20 - 20 and Sparta was right back in it. The final score ended up to be 25 - 23 as Sparta pulled ahead and won. Finally, the Spartans came through and finished off Holmen 25 - 14 in the fourth game.

When Meg Herman and Sydney Olsen, volleyball players from the the 2011 class, were interviewed after the game about being in first place was, "It is awesome and we are glad that we are in first place." Another question was asked. The question was if they thought this was a team effort or if it was just one player doing everything. The response was, "It is a team effort".

Hopefully, from now on, the Sparta Girls Volleyball team will remain undefeated.

Why No Headphones Allowed In The Hallways

Matt Grobelch

This year students discovered they can no longer listen to headphones in the hallways. Well on September 10, 2009, in an interview, Samuel Russ, the school principal, was asked the solution as to why no headphones are allowed in the hallways.

His response was that, "In the hallway, it is time to socialize and not to listen to music and that you should be socializing and connecting with the other students.It can show respect to your fellow classmates and teachers so that if someone wants to talk to you, they feel that you are ready to listen." So if you have headphones in your ears, it shows that you do not want to communicate with the other students. It is kind of disrespectful to others and saying that you do not want to talk or communicate with them. Also, it is hard to talk to someone who does not seem to be listening to you.

The second thing Russ talked about was hearing. He said if a person is listening to music in the hallways had dropped a paper then another student or teacher could not be able to tell them because that person is not listening. If a person is listening and has headphones in their ears, they have a tendency to play their music so loud that it could potentially damage their ears. If a student is listening to headphones in the hallways they can not hear any announcements that are going over the intercom. If their name is called the student would have no clue that they are being spoken to.

The final thing that Russ talked about was safety. He said that if students are listening to their headphones, then they can not hear what is going on in the halls. So if a fire were to happen you would not be able to hear the alarms going off. If you are listening to your headphones then you start to play your music too loud and can affect your hearing. Especially in the hallways there are students and teachers talking and lockers opening and closing which makes it harder to hear the headphones which means you must turn the headphones which you must turn the volume up more and hurt your ears more. If a janitor is coming down down the hallways with a machine and students need to clear a path so he can get through and you will not have headphones going, you will not know that he is coming and you could get hit or run over.

fall folk fest

by Crystal Achterkirch

The Sparta high Choirs started there first concert on Oct. 19th of 2009.

The order is, Mixed Chorus, Treble choir, Chamber Choir, Guest German Choir, Show Choir, Vocal Jazz and SHE( group of 5 girls).

Tammy Jacobson, an 11th grader at Sparta High said this, "I like watching show choir." This year show choir is singing Broadway hits from Billy Elliot the Broadway Musical. Jacobson also has a solo in Treble Choir and the song is called Denko ( African folk song).

Kim Gunderson a 11th grader at Sparta High school had this to say about choir "I loved everything about choir!" Kim Gunderson is in Mixed Chorus. Which is singing "Homeward Bound", "Two Contemporary German Settings" and "He Ain't Heavy he's my brother."

Stephine Spencer a senior at Sparta High had this to say about choir "Singing" is her favorite part in Choir. Stephine is in Mixed and Treble choir this year.

The Guest German Choir from Muchen sang after chamber choir. Chamber this year sang the African Processional, Come Thou , Si Tu Suenas, Gate and Lift Him Up. Vocal Jazz sang Cecilia, Friendship and Moonglow. SHE3 sand Summertime, I'm Gonna, I Wish and More I Cannot.

The next Choir Concert is the Holiday Concert on Dec. 21st at 7:30p.m. in the Auditorium.