News

Millions of Americans looked to the presidential election with eager eyes on Nov. 4, hoping for change. In California, some of that change came as an affront to supporters of gay and lesbian rights, including many students.

Proposition 8 stated “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” At midnight on Nov. 4, the proposition was passed, effectively banning same-sex marriages. As the most expensive proposition on the ballot this year, the results were anticipated by many voters, which turned out to be 52.4 percent for and 47.6 percent against.

Last year, the administration implemented a new policy that took away the applied arts credit for being an office aide (OA) or teacher’s aide (TA).

Now, in order obtain these credits, students must enroll in a class that falls under the applied arts category and in addition has a career element to it. For this reason, the number of TAs and OAs has steadily decreased since last year, going from 143 students to an all-time low of 94 students, according to assistant principal Brian Safine.

Last year, the administration implemented a new policy that took away the applied arts credit for being an office aide (OA) or teacher’s aide (TA).

With a shortage of sponsors and funds, the Robotics club is struggling so far this year; its 20 active members need to raise thousands of dollars before the start of the season in January.

The English Department and English teacher Judith Sutton received commendations last Wednesday, Nov. 5, at the Saratoga City Council for their work with the award-winning poetry program at the high school.

The speech and debate team looked to follow up a successful first tournament of the year as their season progressed at their next two tournaments at Palo Alto and Leland High School.

The team excelled the Palo Alto High School Congress Tournament held on Oct. 29 with junior Varun Parmar placing second and senior Farid Jiandani placing fourth overall. In addition, the majority of the team placed in their respective Congress houses.

A unique student debate took place on Oct. 26—and no, it had nothing to do with the current presidential election. The debaters who participated did the usual—introduction, rebuttal and counterattacks, but in French.

For schools in the Bay Area and those across the nation, the popular dance style of freaking has increasingly become an area of concern and has staff members, parents and other adults struggling to crack down on it, ultimately proving to be a difficult feat.

From dealing out detentions and suspensions to canceling dances, schools all over have tried different ways to put a stop to freaking.

The oral interpretation class held a “Scary Story” event on Oct. 24 and Oct. 25 to showcase the work they had been doing in the class. The event, which was about an hour long, consisted of students reading and enacting scary literature in front of an audience of students and parents in the Little Theater.

Sixty seniors were recognized by the administration on Oct. 22 for their achievement of getting a admirable score on last year’s PSAT test with a breakfast for them and their guests in the cafeteria.