History
The school opened in September 1959 when Newton High School in neighboring Newton, which had also served Sparta students, could no longer take on Sparta's rapidly growing high school-aged population. The sending districts of Byram and Hopatcong combined with Sparta to form the initial student body. In its first year of operation, Sparta High enrolled over 400 students enrolled in just three grades, including students from not only Sparta, but also from nearby Hopatcong and Byram Township, which shared the school. In 1963, Sparta graduated its first class—of 160 students—that had attended the school for all four years.
During the 1970s, Sparta High School instituted split sessions to help alleviate problems brought on by increased enrollment. This was only a temporary fix, however, and the town later approved a referendum to build an "annex" onto the back of the school, more than doubling its area. The section added a new cafeteria, a library, and open classroom spaces.
In the early 1990s, the open spaces provided by the built-on annex were renovated and became closed classrooms. By this time, over one thousand students—all from Sparta—were enrolled in the school. Later in the 1990s, the high school was expanded yet again, adding a new science wing and a number of technological upgrades.
In September 2006, Sparta residents approved a referendum to perform major renovations on the school that aim to bring the school up to date. The construction began in the spring of 2008 and was finally completed by the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year. This reconstruction was to alleviate the issue of overcrowding that the school faced. During the construction, many classrooms were displaced to a cluster of modular trailer rooms.
Read more about this topic: Sparta High School (New Jersey)
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The principle that human nature, in its psychological aspects, is nothing more than a product of history and given social relations removes all barriers to coercion and manipulation by the powerful.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“It’s not the sentiments of men which make history but their actions.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The myth of independence from the mother is abandoned in mid- life as women learn new routes around the mother—both the mother without and the mother within. A mid-life daughter may reengage with a mother or put new controls on care and set limits to love. But whatever she does, her child’s history is never finished.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)