Acting Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton gives an overview of what people can expect in 2024.
The Cherry Hill School District experienced a number of changes last year.
Longtime Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche retired and Acting Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton took the interim role; bond projects are underway; and the community has continued to protest hate, including antisemitism and Islamophobia.
Board of education member Jenn Fleisher said she was stepping down, along with Corrien Elmore Stratton, who lost reelection.
The new year will see a continuing superintendent search, as well as choosing someone to fill Fleisher’s seat. Morton said he anticipates a new schools chief to be named around spring, with more details to be released closer to the date.
Since the school district received a preschool expansion ROD grant last year, it will now begin to grow that program with help from outside providers and community partners. That will mean the addition of eight classrooms each at both Malberg Early Childhood Education Center and Joyce Kilmer Elementary School.
“In total, we’re looking to enroll over 1,700 kids in the next five years,” said Morton. “We don’t have that space within the district currently, or even with the addition of 16 new classrooms to accommodate 1,700 children. So it’s a necessity that we partner with others.”
The board of ed held an informational session to provide more details on pre-K enrollment in November, and the full presentation is available on the district YouTube channel.
While conversations on elementary-school redistricting have been paused, Morton shared that the district is beginning a demographic study, as it did pre-pandemic.
“The board and I don’t know how reliable the information that was done pre-pandemic is right now,” he explained, “so I think it wants the most up-to-date, relevant information before moving forward with any decisions with elementary redistricting.”
The demographic study will be in-depth, covering things like population growth and trends throughout Cherry Hill, relevant issues that will help the district predict population growth and possible overcrowding at the elementary-, middle- and high-school levels. When the study is complete, its conclusion will be presented to the board.
The conversation on changing school start times – so students can wake a bit earlier in the morning – is also on hold.
“We thought it would be wise to not make a recommendation for something potentially mandated to change within a year or two, depending on how the legislation has been moved,” Morton noted.
The district will also conduct an audit in the new year to determine how it can best communicate with residents, utilizing a combination of surveys and focus group conversations. Both school staff and students will be involved, and the results will also be presented to the board.
“We hope to then be able to turn around and implement some strategies and some new designs in the coming school year,” Morton pointed out.
The district will also begin implementing some of the recommendations from a presentation on the 2023 New Jersey Standard Learning Assessment (NJSLA) data this year, as well as new math college pathways at the high-school level.
