Central Office

Think back a week. Think of how comfortable it would have been to go to work and yet not leave the house. No need to dig out the driveway or wait an hour for the bus. No need for coats and boots (no boots!), nor to arrange last-minute day care for suddenly homebound children. Just make a cup of coffee, pop a video in for the kids and wander into the home office wearing fuzzy slippers rather than high heels. (Of course, the quiet and concentration will be broken when the kids start fighting, the dirty dishes beckon, your mother calls and the only productive thing to do is bake cookies.

The players are different, but the problems are the same. Despite shedding thousands of employees and making significant classroom cuts in recent months, the Philadelphia School District - which had earlier announced a $629 million budget gap - must make an additional $39 million in reductions. Officials propose further slashing individual schools' budgets by $10 million total, cutting professional development, English-language learner instruction, psychologists, instrumental music, athletics, educational technology, and bilingual counseling assistants.

LEROY NUNERY II finished behind Arlene Ackerman in the 2008 search for the Philadelphia School District's new leader. Now, having been named acting superintendent after Ackerman got pushed out, Nunery gets to clean up the mess left in her wake. For starters, he'll have to continue working to close a multimillion-dollar budget gap that threatens more jobs. And to enjoy an amicable rapport with the district's unions, Nunery will have to repair the relationships fractured during Arlene Ackerman's tenure.

Outraged over proposed cuts in school programs, some 250 Lincoln High students yesterday walked out of classes, blocking traffic at the intersection of Rowland and Ryan avenues for two hours. "They want to take away charters and academies and all the sports, and they want to fire 11 teachers and put more students in classes. It's not right," said ninth-grader Nicole DiDonato. "They had the same budget last year that they have this year," shouted senior William Hinkel. "Why can't they do the same things?"

Angry residents told a stunned Borough Council last week that they opposed early plans for a $1.2 million municipal building, saying it would be "excessive" and "unnecessary" for the tiny town. More than 60 people packed the municipal courtroom on North East Avenue on Thursday for the regularly scheduled work session, and at least a dozen more watched the meeting from outside the building. The council had planned to set a preliminary time line for the building project. But the idea of tinkering with the structure of this conservative borough does not appeal to some residents.

Federal disaster aid is now available for Chester County residents and businesses recovering from the one-two punch of a devastating flood followed a few days later by the winds of Hurricane Isabel. County officials announced yesterday that, starting Friday, a central office staffed by state and county emergency-management officials, as well as by several county agencies, will be open to help those harmed by the two natural disasters. The first step is to call and register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

A new style of management is among the changes the Mount Laurel School District will implement this year as its five-year strategic plan to improve the district gets underway. "I'm completely convinced that we are headed in the right direction more than ever before," said superintendent James Anzide. "Our mission is to increase the level of achievement, and unless we begin to change the structure of the organization to get people involved, we can't proceed with the other changes we want to make.

Grabbing a quick snack from a machine has long been one of life's simpler pleasures. The money goes in. Push a button and, voila! down comes a treat. Although they now take paper money, and have electronic touch pads and other improvements, by and large, vending machines have been doing the same thing since the days of ancient Egypt. Nothing lasts forever. Technological advances promise to give even these humble devices a touch of modern intelligence. One local company, USA Technologies Inc., is working on turning vending machines into vehicles for Internet electronic commerce.

Residents will soon decide whether mail delivery for the township should be further centralized at the Mullica Hill post office, a change that would unify almost the entire town under one zip code. Eight zip codes currently serve Harrison's residents. A survey from the U.S. Postal Service, detailing the proposed changes, will be sent to 400 residents by Jan. 1. If a majority approve the change, all of them will assume the Mullica Hill zip code: 08062. "When we want to send out something simple like a newsletter, it takes six or seven zip codes to reach all of our residents," said Paul Maggioncalda, a member of the Township Committee.