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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, September 18,2022 FORSYTHNEWS.COM EDUCATION Schools target learning loss recovery District leaders to start finance committee, new student scholarship By Sabrina Kerns skerns@forsythnews.com The Forsyth County Board of Education discussed how schools are helping students recover from learning loss, what the district is doing to involve the community in its financial decisions and the education foundation’s growth at its work session on Tuesday, Sept. 13. Recovering from learning loss Before looking at what the district has been doing over the past year to help curb learning loss caused by the pandemic, Accountability Coordinator Tim Keyser told the board it is important to look at students’ Georgia Milestones results. “The state strongly discourag es making longitudinal compari sons to pre-pandemic levels because we know that there was an effect that impacted learn ing,” Keyser said. “But we still think it’s important to look at that data. We want to know where were we before the pan demic? How were our students performing?” This past year’s results, which include End-of-Grade and End- of-Course assessments for grades 3-12, show a significant drop in student scores across all grades and subjects compared to pre-pandemic levels. Despite the drop in results, Keyser explained that students still scored much higher than the state average, and Forsyth County Schools had the highest scores in the state among sys tems testing more than 1,000 students. “It’s expected, but at the same time, we see that improvement taking place to recover,” Keysar said. Amy Bartlett, Director of Elementary Education, explained that the system received $13 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan during the pandem ic, and the district was required to use 20%, or $2.6 million, of the funding to help address learning loss. FCS used that money to host a summer school in June and early July for all grade levels, inviting students who were at-risk or had failed standards in reading and math. They also provided door-to- door transportation and provided free meals to students at all six school sites where the program was hosted. Overall, district leaders agreed that the program for both elementary and second ary students was a success. Bartlett led the elementary program, which helped to engage more than 470 students at five different sites in hands-on activities that they could also take home with them after the 19-day program was over. To gauge learning recovery, See B0C 12A Hunt for 'rusty gold' continues Photos submitted to Forsyth County News "American Pickers" will visit Georgia in December, and the show is looking for "a large, private collection or accumulation of antiques" to go through. American Pickers looking for extraordinary items’ for Ga. return By Kelly Whitmire kwh itm i re@f o rsyth n ews.com The History Channel’s “American Pickers” is returning to Georgia soon and is looking for places to pick. According to a release from the show’s pro ducers, “American Pickers” will visit the state in December, and the show is looking for “a large, private collection or accumulation of antiques” to go through. “As they hit the back roads from coast to coast, the Pickers are on a mission to recycle and res cue forgotten relics,” officials said in the release. “Along the way, they want to meet characters with remarkable and exceptional items. They hope to give historically significant objects a new lease on life while learning a thing or two about America’s past along the way. See PICKERS12A * . *, *1 w / ~r ^ V The show "hopes to give historically significant objects a new lease on life while learning a thing or two about America's past along the way." Police: Man with machete steals cycle at Waffle House By Nick Watson FCN regional staff A Dawsonville man was accused of stealing a motorcycle after hitting a helmet- ed man in the head with a machete and then leading Dawson County deputies on a chase into Hall County, according to authorities. Zackery Ryen Miller, 22, faces multiple charges from an armed robbery and chase that ended in a crash in Hall County. Dawson County deputies responded just before 10 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, to a report of an armed robbery in the Waffle House parking lot on N 400 Center Lane in Dawsonville. Sheriff Jeff Johnson said Miller hit a man in the head with a machete then stole the motorcycle. Johnson said the man is OK. As deputies were responding, they spotted a motorcycle leaving the area of the Waffle House. Deputies tried to stop the motorcycle as the chase entered Hall County on Price Road, but the motorcycle did not stop. Johnson said the pursuit reached speeds of 85 mph and lasted more than 2 miles. “During the pursuit, the suspect lost control and crashed in the area of the Lighthouse Community Church located on Price (Road),” Johnson wrote in an email. While securing the scene, deputies found drugs on and around Miller. Johnson said the drugs included crushed pills believed to be alprazolam and three separate baggies of suspected metham- phetamine “also containing suspected fentanyl.” Johnson said Georgia State Patrol is investigat ing the crash, and The Times has reached out to state patrol for information. Miller sustained injuries in the crash and was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center before going to the Dawson County Detention Center. Miller is being held with no bond. He was charged with armed robbery, aggravated assault, possession of a controlled substance with the intent to to distribute, possession of tools for the commission of a crime, fleeing and eluding a police officer and DUI of drugs. This story was originally published in The Gainesville Times. 93 Forsyth students named Merit Scholarship semifinalists By Sabrina Kerns skerns@forsythnews.com Several high school seniors from Forsyth County made it through the first round of the 2023 National Merit Scholarship program, qualifying as some of the top academic achievers in the U.S. The 93 Forsyth County high schoolers are among 16,000 semifmalists nationwide chosen to continue competing for about 7,250 scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring, according to a press release by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. About 15,000 semifinalists will be named finalists in February from which National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected based on their “skills, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.” According to the press release, high school juniors entered the 2023 scholarship program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, and the nation wide pool of semifmalists repre sents less than 1% of high school seniors and includes the highest- scoring participants in each state. Going forward, semifmalists must fill out a detailed scholar ship application including infor mation about their academic records, school and community activities, leadership abilities, employment and honors received. “A semifmalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the quali fying test,” according to the release. Here are Forsyth County’s semifmalists for this year: Denmark HS ■ AkshatBagade ■ Aman Binu Kasim ■ Shanmathi Gunasekaran ■ Stanley Jiang ■ Venkata Pranay Maddireddy ■ AnishPunati ■ Pravith Rathin ■ RohitSenthil ■ AarohiSoodan ■ KunalTalreja Alliance Academy for Innovation ■ ShreyDhamal ■ Grace Elrod ■ AshaGoddu ■ Arushi Gupta ■ Divesh Gupta ■ Esther Jeong ■ Nicholas Kusumo ■ Mrityunjay Sivakumar ■ Ashley Track Forsyth Central HS ■ Monish Jampala ■ Christine Lee ■ Yugeshwar Muralidhar ■ Navya Pampatwar ■ SimranPatki ■ Emily Schierts ■ Jasmine White ■ Vishnu Yella Homeschool ■ Jessica Liu North Forsyth HS ■ Cody Skinner South Forsyth HS ■ Sanika Ainchwar ■ AnjaniAllada ■ Caden Ambrose ■ Rasmit Devkota ■ ShreyaDhara ■ Alexis Foster ■ ArnavHande ■ Christina Huang ■ Audrey Hui See Merit 12A Weather High Low 83/61 Forsyth County News app available tot download Find the app at forsythnews.com/apps for local news at your fingertips. Access local news online at ForsythNews.com