J u n e 3 0 , 2 0 2 2 | A p p e n M e d i a . c o m | A n A p p e n M e d i a G r o u p P u b l i c a t i o n | 5 0 ¢ | Vo l u m e 2 6 , N o . 2 6
New study charts learning declines among students due to pandemic By CANDY WAYLOCK candy@appenmedia.com
TIFFANY MORGAN/APPEN MEDIA
Johns Creek resident Martin Matthews speaks to the City Council during the public comment of the June 21 meeting about developing ways to get citizens more involved in the community.
Council debates bike lanes Officials examine multi-purpose trail along Jones Bridge BY TIFFANY MORGAN newsroom@appenmedia.com JOHNS CREEK, Ga. –– Sometimes, the hardest thing about learning to ride a bike is the road. Johns Creek City Council members spent part of their June 21 work session deliberating on whether or not to include 1.6 miles of bike lanes to a project calling to widen Jones Bridge Road. The bike lanes would run from Waters Road to State Bridge Road and
would be part of the nearly $12 million Jones Bridge Road widening project which the council approved in 2021. The project is funded by money from the transportation sales tax, or TSPLOST, with the goal of reducing congestion by adding a lane in each direction. In correspondence with the three-lane construction, the project will use the remainder of the road for designated bike lanes. The bike lane element was first introduced at the May 17 work session. Four of the seven council members supported the plan in favor of using any available land to accommodate green space. Council member Chris Coughlin opposed the bike lanes saying he preferred to pursue a multi-use trail. Coughlin said a trail is a safer, cheaper, greener
and a more sustainable option. “It’s a busy area and provides to a very small percentage of bikers in that region,” Coughlin said. “Essentially, I [want] to save money and preserve our green space.” Between 20,000 and 21,000 cars a day travle Jones Bridge Road, according to Chris Haggard, director of Public Works. Coughlin said the bike lanes do not make intuitive sense. With the bike lanes and trail, accommodation is being made to the casual and more professional cyclists. “Essentially, we’re accommodating two different types of cyclists when the
See DEBATE, Page 7
ATLANTA — Younger students may have been less vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, but they were hit hard academically, according to a recent Georgia State University report. The study, conducted by the Metro Atlanta Policy Lab for Education, reviewed data from three area school districts, including Fulton County Schools, to measure student achievement in math and reading over the course of the two-year-long pandemic. MAPLE has been collecting this data from the three districts since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. It released its first findings in spring 2021 which looked at data in the first year of the pandemic. The recent update states, “Student Achievement Growth During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” found many students have begun to recover academically in the second year of the
See REPORT, Page 17