Blue Jersey Reports 3/2

New Jersey NEWS Round-Up Friday, March 2

by: DBK

reprinted with permission of Blue Jersey

  • The state has a budget shortfall of $10 billion for teachers\’ pensions this year. The state\’s failure to fully fund the commitment to the retirement fund increases the cost of payments. The fund covers the retirement and annuity benefits of 220,000 school teachers. The state has a budget shortfall of $25 billion in a total of seven pension funds.
  • The Plainfield School Board has finally reached an agreement with the teachers union on a contract. Plainfield\’s teachers had been working without a contract since June 2005. One of the big issues had been the amount of teaching time required by the contract. According to the agreement, high school teachers will provide an additional 80 minutes of instruction per dayand middle school teachers will provide an additional 40 minutes per day. Other issues in the negotiation were health care givebacks, tuition reimbursement, and salary guidelines. Oh and no more teacher\’s dirty looks.
  • Antonella Barba, the Point Pleasant native who is now competing on American Idol, has survived another week of cuts. We wish her the best of luck. She\’ll need it with performances like Melinda Doolittle\’s to beat.
  • A cafeteria fight in Camden High School spread to a second floor on Monday, prompting the arrival of the police. Now Camden school board president Philip Freeman is seeking answers with regard to reports that police used excessive force, including night sticks and pepper spray, to restore order. The school was closed for an hour because of the fight and then dismissed. Why isn\’t this a big story? An entire school had to be dismissed because of a brawl among students. Students missed half a day of school. That ought to be a much bigger story.
  • What would the Friday news roundup be without a story about a corruption investigation? The legal issue involving the Office of Legislative Services took another interesting turn as Retired Superior Court Judge Herbert Friend, vice chairman of the Joint Legislative Committee on Ethical Standards thinks he\’s come up with a procedural move that would legally allow the release of the document that the OLS is withholding from federal investigators. The investigation is looking into advice that State Senator Wayne Bryant (D-Camden) received from the OLS on whether there would be a conflict of interest if he took a job at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
  • And in another UMDNJ story, the doctor who stole a severed hand from a corpse while a medical student at UMDNJ was given a suspended sentence today. Doctor Ahmed Rashed had removed the hand from the corpse and then given it as a gift to a stripper at her club. Yes, you read that right. He stole the hand and then gave it to a stripper as a gift. I can see you shaking your head. I don\’t get it either.
  • Somerset Christian Academy in Franklin Township (Somerset County) is closing its high school and the closing of St Peter the Apostle High School in Metuchen is not going to stop either, despite the efforts of parents and alumni to keep it open another year. At St Peter the Apostle, concerned parents and alumni offered to raise the money to keep the school operating, but their offers were rejected because the Diocese felt the long term prospects just weren\’t good enough. The problem at Somerset Christian Academy seems to be one of low enrollment more than finances.
  • One of the most bizarre election stories is the Morris Township Committee election. It\’s in court now and the judge is dropping one vote here and counting one vote there as they try to come up with a winner. The result appears to be that one candidate surges ahead by one vote, then a vote is disallowed and the election is tied, and then a vote is counted and the other guy goes ahead. It\’s a short story, but amusing if granularity appeals to you.

    • So, what\’s on your mind?

  • DIARY ADDITION: Just caught this one. The US Chamber of Commerce education report is out and New Jersey\’s education system got high marks in some areas, but the return on investment, meaning the quality of the education compared to the cost, received only a D. From the report:

    Student performance in New Jersey is very strong. The state ranks among the highest in the nation. Fourth graders stand ten percentage points above the national average in the percentage at or above the proficient level on the NAEP math exam.

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    DBK :: News Round-up, Friday, March 2, 2007

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