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20 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, January 1, 2020 ‘Marrying’ tests is goal of school pilot projects By Ron Bridgeman ron@mainstreetnews.com “How do we make that work?” Jennie Persinger, the Barrow County School System's testing and data special ist, says that, or something similar, more times than not when questioned about the “pilot” testing project the school system is involved in with nine other school districts. Georgia has “pilot” projects underway to reduce the number and maybe importance of standardized tests in its schools. If all goes well, a new test could be ready for the 2021-22 year, Persinger said. Jackson County also is in the middle of those projects. The two counties are part of a consor tium of 10 districts working with NWEA, a not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators by creating assess ment solutions. The group working on the project meets a couple of times per year “face to face,” she said. The group meets several times in a virtual setting. Persinger takes the lead for the district on the GMAP project. GMAP is a moniker that combines Geor gia and MAP, which stands for Measure of Academic Progress. Barrow County has been using Map Growth tests for the past several years. It is given three times a year — beginning, mid dle and end. The tests take 45 to 60 minutes. Persinger says “marrying” the current MAP test, which is a “formative” assess ment, and the Georgia Milestones, which is a “summative” assessment, is complicated. One of the major factors is the writ ing portion of the Milestones test — an “open-ended” part of the test that requires more thought and takes longer to grade than the multiple-choice questions from other parts of the test. Whatever the results of the “pilot” proj ect, Persinger said it will include “some kind of writing component.” GMAP “is not the test that we're giving now,” Persinger said. “We can’t just cut out Milestones altogether.” “The development of GMAP will allow us to use one assessment for both purpos es,” superintendent Chris McMichael said by email. The MAP tests have been given to stu dents three times each year — beginning, middle and end. The tests provide results nearly imme diately so programs for students can be al tered right away. Milestones tests do not allow for that. Schools get the results quicker now than in the past, Persinger said, but it still is not soon enough. Milestones testing is done in the late spring. By the time the results are known, a few days may remain in the school year or school may be over. It is far too late to help students. That is the most obvious benefit from the MAP testing. Questions are geared to indi viduals. When it is answered incorrectly, the student gets another question that is a bit less complex. Teachers prefer the MAP process, See Projects, page 2A Winder man arrested for prostitution solicitation A Winder man was arrest ed recently for adult prosti tution solicitation as part of a sting operation by the Hall County Sheriff's Office and Georgia Bureau of Investi gation. Jack William Rosa, 25, was arrested Dec. 20 and charged with pandering, ac cording to a news release. He was among 10 people arrested as part of the un dercover Internet Crimes Against Children/Pandering sting, according to a news release. The arrests occurred at a location in the north Hall area, where the suspects are accused of committing the crimes with who they are al leged to have believed were child victims or prostitutes. Law enforcement officers acted in an undercover ca pacity in this operation, the release said. All of the pandering sus pects were arrested for so liciting adults for acts of prostitution, the release said. No further arrests are an ticipated as a result of the investigation. Index: Public Safety 7A Church News 8A Classifieds 9A Legals 4-7B Obituaries 10-11A Opinion 4-6A Sports 1-2B A look back at 2019 j , m i Wmmfm 7 mtwsms \mm O' mj -,W '1 Officials broke ground on the Victor Lord Park expansion project in June. Photos by Scott Thompson Reviewing top local news stories of the year Here are the top 10 local news stories in Barrow County from 2019. COUNTY, WINDER STILL APART ON SDS ISSUES After a handful of mediation sessions, Barrow County and the City of Winder still could not resolve two outstanding service-delivery issues, leaving the county and its municipalities without an updated ser vice-delivery strategy agreement more than a year af ter an update was due. Elected representatives and other officials repre senting the county and each municipality in the coun ty met in a court-ordered private session for more than six hours Nov. 5 at the Georgia Club in Statham to discuss the issues of water utility service and coun ty road maintenance but did not come away with an agreement. The case was sent back to retired Chief Judge David Sweat of the Western Judicial Circuit in Ath- ens-Clarke and Oconee counties, who was assigned to the case in Barrow County Superior Court. It was unclear whether Sweat would order the parties to talk again or make a ruling on the issues, or when the case would go back in front of him. EMS DISPUTE RESOLVED On March 22, the Barrow County Board of Com missioners approved a three-year contract between the county and Northeast Georgia Health System for Barrow County Emergency Services to station a ful ly-staffed ambulance at Northeast Georgia Medical Center Barrow to cover the existing emergency re sponse zones within the Winder city limits. The agreement brought to an apparent end a year long dispute between the county and city over EMS service and response times. The city had sought to have the emergency response zones inside the city opened so it could operate its own service through a private company, but the Region 10 EMS Council shot that request down in November 2018. In January 2019, interim Georgia Public Health Commissioner Patrick O’Neal overruled the regional council and directed it to open up all zones inside Bar- row County to proposals from interested providers. But then, in a Feb. 22 letter, O'Neal rescinded that de cision and allowed the regional council vote to stand. The new unit went into operation in July. GOVERNMENT CHANGES IN STATHAM On Nov. 5, Joe Piper was elected the new may or of Statham, defeating former city councilman See 2019, page 2A MAILING LABEL 7*^ ■ \7ji\ Mjd* j |i | A 9L .. fd k ar -g , f- mJUst’i k » ■ * L seflflsra W WINDER SRT HELPS SENIORS Submitted photo The Winder Police Department presented 45 members of the Barrow County Senior Center with hol iday care packages that included candy and treats, playing cards and activity books, various hygiene items and gift cards for food at local grocery stores and restaurants. The Special Response Team, for its annual service project, chose to benefit senior citizens. The group joined the Barrow County Senior Center for their annual Christmas luncheon. The team raised $3,000 through fundraisers and 12 local businesses. The Barrow County Sheriff’s Office helped with the Thanksgiving Turkey Shoot. Chick- fil-A of Winder helped assemble the 45 care packages. Barrow Briefs SUPPORT GROUP FOR DEMENTIA CAREGIVERS A new support group for dementia caregivers is com ing to Barrow County. Co-facilitated by Cloud Conrad and Jessica Bank ston. the group will meet from 1-2 p.m. on the second Wednesday of every month, beginning Jan. 8. All caregiv ers are welcome to attend. The meetings will be held at the Winder Adult Day Cen ter, located at 63 Lee St. For more information and/ or to RSVP, contact Bankston at 678-425-0718 or jbank- ston@accaging.org LOCAL BLOOD DRIVES COMING UP The following American Red Cross blood drives are coming up in Barrow County: •1-6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2, at the Winder Public Library, 189 Bellview St. •noon to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, at Winder First United Methodist Church. 280 North Broad St. •3-7 p.m. Monday. Jan. 13, at Winder Wesleyan Church, 64 East Midland Ave. To donate blood, down load the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit Red- CrossBlood.org, call 1-800- RED CROSS (1-800-733- 2767) or enable the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device to make an ap pointment or for more infor mation. BRING ONE FOR THE CHIPPER EVENT SET Keep Barrow Beautiful will host a “Bring One for the Chipper” event Saturday, Jan. 4. The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Barrow County Leisure Ser vices Complex, 80 Lee St., Winder, between fields 8-11. People are encouraged to bring their Christmas trees to be recycled. AKA Tree Care is sponsoring the event. For more information, con tact Danielle Austin at daus- tin@barrowga.org or 770- 307-3005. WOMEN’S SHARE GROUP CAM Pregnancy Care Center, 127 West Candler St., Winder, will host a confiden tial share group for women only at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6. “Coffee Break Share Group is a great way for women to get together to share the laughter and hard times of their lives.” leaders state. The share group is held monthly. For more information, call 770-867-3000 or email cen- ter@campregnancycare.com. o