In a unanimous yes vote, longtime teacher at Cherry Hill West Carole Roskophe was appointed to the new position of director of special projects at the June 25 board of education meeting.
Roskophe has served in the district for 23 years, teaching English and most recently serving as an assistant principal at Cherry Hill West. She has also been an activities coordinator at West and a business administrator for the West Theater program. She is also serving in her 11th year as a councilwoman on the Cherry Hill Township council, according to a statement put out by the district.
“I’m excited to get started,” Roskophe said. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank my Cherry Hill West family. I will miss them. … My heart will be there but I am excited to take that energy and that commitment to the rest of the district.”
Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton noted this was the final piece in the reorganizational plan that they started months ago.
” I’m definitely excited about the team moving forward,” Morton said. “I think we’re definitely situated in a way to allow us to maximize our productivity and to allow us to truly make progress in a positive way in the district.”
In finance news, he also praised the board’s decision to approve the Cherry Hill Education Association’s (CHEA) sidebar agreement.
“It’s monumental, CHEA is currently not in negotiations right now, but the board recognized the need to adjust our salary scale,” Morton said. ” … What that does is ultimately allows us to attract the best candidates and provide the best teachers possible for the children.”
During old business, board member Adam Greenbaum broke down what pre-school expansion was costing the district and emphasized that whether they continued or not, the $6.1 million funds the from the state were only able to be used for the pre-school expansion program.
According to Greenbaum, in total, the preschool expansion program will cost $7.6 million, with $6.1 million being funded by the state and $1.5 million by the district. The main cost, he noted, was transportation, which he described as an ‘ongoing challenge faced by the whole district,’ not just the preschool program.
Compared to last year’s half-day program that held 200 students, primarily classified with IEPs, this year’s preschool expansion will serve over 500 students in a full-day program.
“The prior half-day program was around $5 million, that’s focusing on our classified students, and again inclusive of instruction, transportation and everything it takes to do that,” Greenbaum said. “Moving into next year, the total cost of the program is $6.9 million. The difference for that is $1.9 million, and the $1.9 million is almost entirely transportation, and $1.5 million is for gen-ed preschool expansion.”
During the board of education meeting, the board also approved on second reading a new wireless device policy to help mitigate cellphone and other device usage during class time which is something that has been in the works for a long time, according to Morton. The full policy is available at chclc.org.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, July 6.
