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NJ prepares for layoffs of state workers
TRENTON, N.J. - A union leader says New Jersey is making preparations to lay off hundreds of state workers to balance the 2010 state budget. Rae Roeder, president of Communications Workers of America Local 1033, says union representatives for at least three state departments have been notified , as required by law , of layoff notices that are being drafted. Roeder said Monday that her local was advised of approximately 300 positions at the Motor Vehicle Commission, 300 at the Treasury Department, 50 at the Education Department and 30 at the Secretary of State's Office. Corzine spokesman Robert Corrales says a layoff plan is being prepared, but the governor prefers to use furloughs and wage freezes. He says no final decisions on layoffs have been made. | ||||||||||||||||
Princeton University will use Kindle e-reader to use less paper
by Mark Mueller/The Star Ledger
Saturday May 09, 2009, 7:19 AM
PRINCETON -- Princeton University has a problem with paper. It uses far too much of it. Last year alone, campus printers spit out 15 million pages. Amazon.com, the huge online retailer, has a splashy new version of its Kindle electronic reader, one that's twice as big as its predecessor and that allows users to make notations and highlight words or passages on its digital pages.
Beginning this fall, Princeton and five other colleges across the country will put the new device to the test to determine if it can help reach the goal of a paperless society, or at least a society that uses much less paper.
Under a pilot program announced by the university, each student in three classes at Princeton will be given a free Kindle DX, which will carry textbooks and electronic materials from the school's library.
That so-called reserve reading material -- articles in scholarly journals and passages from books -- is typically printed out by students, creating a paradox. The more the library digitizes material, the more paper the university uses, said Serge Goldstein, director of academic services in Princeton's Office of Information Technology.
Princeton paid $5 million for paper last year, and the printing of reserve reading material accounted for the majority of paper used.
"That's a lot of trees," Goldstein said. "We'd like to see if we can make a dent in that."
Much as the slumping newspaper industry has high hopes for the Kindle DX -- the publisher of the New York Times this week called it "an important milestone in the convergence of print and digital" -- college administrators are eyeing the device as a means to serve both their budgets and the environment.
Amazon chief executive Jeffrey Bezos, a Princeton alum, unveiled the new Kindle earlier this week, calling it a better fit for students. At 9.7 inches across, it's more textbook-friendly than the smaller Kindle 2. It also can read PDF files.
Perhaps most importantly, in Goldstein's view, students can annotate text, marking up passages and writing in the margins as they would on paper.
"We think that's a key function for higher education, and that's one of the things we're going to be looking at closely," he said.
Paper remains king for a reason, of course. Annotating on the Kindle requires the use of the device's joystick and keypad -- not nearly as simple a process as using a pen or pencil to jot things down.
"The question is, will that be a showstopper?" Goldstein said.
Pages also are sometimes slow to load. On the plus side, Goldstein said, the text is searchable.
About 60 people in all -- students, faculty, and a handful of support staffers -- will receive the $489 devices, and Goldstein said the participants will be questioned throughout the semester to determine whether they're an acceptable alternative to paper.
The courses that will use the reader have not been announced.
About $30,000 of the program's cost will be covered by a gift from the High Meadows Foundation, a private foundation that promotes environmental science. Amazon will match the amount.
The other schools that have launched pilot programs with the device are Pace University, the University of Virginia, Arizona State University, Reed College and Case Western Reserve University.
You can go back to work, N.J. top court tells teacher after 20 years of disability leave
by Mark Mueller/The Star-Ledger
Monday May 11, 2009, 8:16 PM
TRENTON -- A Monmouth County school district must permanently reinstate a teacher who retired on disability two decades ago amid accusations she was drunk on the job and suffered from mental health problems, the state Supreme Courtruled today.
Charlotte Klumb, 67, returned to the classroom in the Manalapan-Englishtown Regional School District five years ago by order of the state education commissioner, who determined she had recovered sufficiently from her problems that she could resume her teaching career.
District officials, who opposed her return at the time, have been seeking court authority to remove her ever since.
The five-year legal battle reached its conclusion today, when the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that state law allows a formerly disabled person to return to work regardless of the time frame.
The statute, the court said, "is part and parcel of a humane and sensible scheme that allows a worker who has recovered from a disability to be assured gainful employment, assuming he remains qualified therefore."
The court did not rule on whether Klumb deserves several years' back pay, referring the issue to the current education commissioner, Lucille Davy.
Klumb, a grandmother of two who teaches seventh-grade English at Manalapan-Englishtown Middle School, said today she was relieved by the ruling, but said she remains frustrated her reputation has been assailed over the years.
She vehemently denies she was ever drunk in the classroom or that she was an alcoholic, allowing only that she suffered from nervousness because she was in the midst of a divorce from an abusive husband. She contends the district concocted the notion she was incompetent in forcing her from the classroom in 1988.
"It's been a very difficult 20 years," Klumb said. "That's 20 years of my life that have been destroyed. They can never pay me back for that. And that's the shame of it."
Manalapan-Englishtown Superintendent John Marciante expressed disappointment in the decision, saying it serves as a lesson. The district initially sought to fire Klumb in 1988, bringing tenure charges against her.
School officials did not follow through with the charges only because Klumb agreed to a disability retirement, he said. In retrospect, the district should have continued with its case, said Marciante, who has been superintendent for two years.
"The district was nice, and if I learned anything as an administrator, it's that you can't be nice in a situation like this," he said. "If we had not done that 20 years ago, we wouldn't be in this position today."
The court fight had been closely watched by the state's biggest teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association, and the New Jersey School Boards Association, both of which filed "friend of the court" briefs in the case.
NJEA spokesman Steve Baker called the high court's decision "a good ruling" that protects the rights of teachers to return from disabilities.
"We're pleased the court did the right thing," Baker said.
The school boards association took the opposite view. Spokesman Frank Belluscio said that while state and federal laws rightly allow employees to takes leaves of absence, the court decision takes that idea too far, allowing for "an almost limitless leave and a perpetual right to reinstatement."
"We feel the board should have the flexibility to fill a position with the most highly skilled or qualified individual," Belluscio said.
He said the ruling could have the consequence of forcing districts to see tenure-charge cases through to the end instead of reaching deals that allow retirement in lieu of an outright firing. Given the difficulty and expense of firing tenured teachers, that will cost districts time and money, Belluscio said.
Klumb, who has an undergraduate degree from the University of Connecticut and a master's from Rutgers University, began teaching in 1968. Her career unraveled 20 years later, she said, when the principal of her school accused her of drinking at work and incompetence.
She said she agreed that she would retire on disability if a doctor found her to be unfit. The district chose that doctor, who subsequently diagnosed her with "organic brain syndrome," a condition marked by confusion, agitation and lapses in judgment and memory. She called the diagnosis a sham but abided by her agreement with the district.
In 1998, Klumb asked the Teacher's Pension and Annuity Fund -- the board that initially granted her disability pay -- to reinstate her, providing them with medical reports showing she was healthy. The board agreed.
The district granted her a job interview in 1999 but declined to hire her, setting up the legal fight to follow. She filed suit in 2002. Three years later, the commissioner of education ordered her reinstated.
Yet to be decided is whether she will receive back pay for the years between 1999, when she was denied a job, and 2002, when she filed her complaint.
Klumb, who earns about $80,000, said she needs the money, but she also sees the pay as vindication.
"I want to retire like everyone else -- with dignity, not with some slur made in connection with my name," she said. "No one should cast aspersions on me."
