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The Sylvania Times
Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - Page 9
SMALL TOWNS WITH GEORGIA CHARM YOU CAN VISIT
Sam Fades
Publisher/Writer
The Peach State is
home to big cities,
but it's also filled
with some of the most
charming and small
towns in the country.
From Georgia's own
Stone Mountain to
the hometown of U.S.
President Jimmy
Carter in Plains, these
delightful destinations
offer the best of two
worlds, taking visitors
back in time while
featuring up-to-the-
minute amenities.
Drive along streets
lined with picture-
perfect historic homes
in Madison, and visit
an organic farm in
an environmentally
friendly planned
community in
Chattahoochee Hills.
Explore the oldest
English fort on the
Georgia coast in
Darien, and embark
on outdoor adventures
from Royston.
Treasures like those
and many more can
be found throughout
Georgia's small towns.
Start exploring with
this list of three close
Georgia towns that
are worth the trip.
Visit Cave Spring,
Georgia
Being a Rome,
Georgia native, I
visited Cave Spring
Georgia very often.
Especially the Cave
Spring pool located
in Rolater Park. The
pool is very nice and
shaped like the State
of Georgia. Water is
very cold, but feels
great once you jump
in. The local spring
provides the water
for the pool. Rolater
Park is located just
off the revitalized
village square, known
as Veterans Plaza,
which is also home to
charming shops like
the Peddler, which
sells home decor
such as oil paintings,
lamps, and prints.
Northwest Georgia's
Cave Spring, a city
of 1,161 residents, is
best known for one
thing: water. It's not
just any water, though
— folks say it's the
purest, best-tasting,
and coldest water
around. Found in the
57-degree limestone
Cave at Rolater Park,
the water comes from
a spring that produces
2 million gallons per
day and overflows into
a reflecting pond and
shallow stream.
Adventurers will
also enjoy exploring
the multi-use Georgia
Pinhoti Trail System,
which connects
long-distance trails
in Alabama to the
Appalachian Trail.
Visit Darien,
Georgia
Once a great
port, Darien, Ga. is
now a quiet fishing
town of 1,880 people
situated 50 miles
south of Savannah.
Oglethorpe-designed
squares, framed by
stately churches
and historic homes,
welcome visitors to
the second-oldest
planned city in
Georgia.
The family can
explore Darien's
significant history
at Fort King George
Historic Site, home
to the oldest English
fort remaining on
Georgia's coast, and
the Burning of Darien
Museum, describing
the epic events
featured in the movie
"Glory."
While there, you
need to stop by the
Old Jail Art Center
for more history and
works by local artists,
browse the specialty
shops, or tour
nearby Ashantilly to
learn about cotton
plantations and
printmaking.
A perfect "end of
the day" dinner, you
will want to take
the family and dine
on local shrimp at
Skippers' Fish Camp,
(delicious!) or relax
on a wine cruise,
and on a coolish
night, take a sunset
stroll along Darien
Waterfront Park. All
offer gorgeous views
of the beautiful river.
Visit Madison,
Georgia
Now, this is
the town General
Sherman considered
too pretty to burn,
and has been named
one of the South's
"Prettiest Towns"
by Southern Living
Magazine. Madison in
east Georgia is home
to beautiful historic
residences, a absolute
beautiful downtown
square, and home to
nearly 4,000 residents.
I have visited Madison
on more than one
occasion. The shops
downtown are
fantastic. Everything
frOm Antique shops,
great resturants,
and a big varitey of
specialty shops.
Madison's
antebellum homes,
which comprise one
of the state's largest
designated National
Register of Historic
Districts, draw
visitors from around
the world. Daily tours
are also available
at Heritage Hall, a
Greek Revival home
that was built in 1811,
and the Rogers House
& Rose Cottage, the
latter of which was
built by a former
enslaved woman in
1891. Additionally,
exhibits referencing
Madison's rich history
and cultural arts
can be found at the
Madison-Morgan
Cultural Center,
which is housed
in a restored 1895
Romanesque Revival
building that once
was the first graded
public schoolhouse in
the Southeast. Your
family will enjoy the
beauty and history
of this wonderful
Georgia town. Plus
Six Flags over Georgia
is but a short distance
from Madison in
Marietta, Georgia. It's
best to plan a two days
of fun at Six Flags so
you can experience
the entire park and
shows.
No A-to-F grades
for Georgia public
schools for third
year
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia will go a third
year without assigning A-to-F grades to public
schools and districts because of the COVID-19
pandemic, after the federal government waived
part of the requirements for the state’s normal
evaluation system.
Instead, the state will publish multiple measures
that are normally parts of the overall grade,
saying it can’t reliably compute some figures
because there was no testing in 2020 and widely
varying shares of students from school to school
took tests in 2021.
The U.S. Department of Education approved
the change late last month and state officials
announced it to superintendents in an email on
June 2.
Normally, schools and districts are graded on a
single 100-point scale in what Georgia calls the
College and Career Ready Performance Index,
with a letter grade assigned based on the score.
Georgia didn’t administer its Milestones
standardized tests to student in grades 3-8 and
high school in spring of 2020 and produced no
grades after that year. The state didn’t assign
grades based on the 2021 tests either, meaning
schools last received new grades in 2019.
State Superintendent Richard Woods, a
Republican seeking reelection this year against
Democrat Alisha Thomas Searcy, has been
an opponent of the current index, saying it
relies too heavily on test scores. But Woods
hasn’t proposed any changes, and Deputy
State Superintendent Allison Timberlake, who
oversees assessment and accountability, said the
state currently plans to assign grades in 2023.
The Georgia Department of Education will
publish multiple 100-point subscores for the just
concluded 2021-2022 school year using some
of the areas normally combined to make up the
overall index. For example, the state will publish
a 100-point scale based on achievement on tests
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Temps rise to triple digits as
summer approaches
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Joe Brady
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Officials with the National Weather Service have issued a heat advisory warning this week for our area. Heat indexes are
expected to top 105 degrees for the first time this year and summer is still almost a week away. These temperatures are not
unique to just Jenkins and the surrounding area, temps are expected to top 100 degrees across the state.
Wear loose fitting clothing advises the Georgia Department of Health, when working outside and drink plenty of liquids.
Try to limit strenuous activities and take breaks as often as possible. In addition to above average temps, scattered
thunderstorms are also expected every afternoon until Thursday.
of English/language arts,
math, science and social
studies.
But Georgia won’t
calculate a score based
on whether schools are
closing achievement
gaps. Nor will it
calculate a score based
on whether test scores
have improved because
it will only have data for
growth toward English
proficiency for students
learning the language,
leaving out English
and math tests. Finally, the state won’t factor
attendance into its readiness measure, because of
COVID-19 related absences.
The federal government required Georgia to
administer standardized tests in spring 2021
over the protests of Woods. Students were not
required to come to school to take the tests.
Scores fell significantly for those who did take
them. But some districts didn’t test enough
students to capture overall achievement,
Timberlake said.
“Testing was kind of all over the board last year,
which makes the ’21 data a little difficult to use
in making comparisons to this year, which is
why we’re not calculating the growth and we’re
not doing closing (achievement) gaps,” she said.
The state intends to use 2022 tests as a new
baseline to compare growth and achievement
gaps among different groups of students.
Despite the lack of an overall grade, the federal
government is requiring Georgia to identify new
groups low-achieving schools for extra state
help.
Normally, Georgia chooses the lowest 5% of
schools for what it calls “comprehensive support
and improvement.” Instead, Georgia will look
at schools with low content mastery scores.
The new group will be determined by further
examining those with low progress toward
proficiency for English language learners and
low readiness scores. For high schools, low
graduation rates will also be considered.
Schools still on the 2019 list for extra help could
be removed.
Some testing rules are back to normal. After
being nearly zeroed out last year, standardized
tests given to Georgia high school students in
algebra I, U.S. history, biology and American
literature and composition again counted for
20% of a student’s grade in 2021-2022.
Travelers no longer
have to test for Covid
to fly into the U.S.
CDC says testing no
longer needed
-Staff Reports
The Biden administration has dropped the requirement
for air travelers coming to the United States to test
negative for COVID-19 before departure.
The official said the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention had determined the requirement was no longer
needed. The requirement became effective Sunday, June
12th at 12:01 a.m. ET.
The CDC will reassess the decision in 90 days and could
reinstate it if there were a new COVID variant of concern,
the official said.
Since December, travelers have had to present a negative
COVID-19 test result taken no more than a day before
departure, or proof of recovery from the virus within the
last 90 days.
The administration official said the new step was
possible because of vaccines and treatments that are now
available — and said the CDC will continue to recommend
that people get tested for COVID before flying, even
though it's not mandatory.
