The changes, which will result in three elementary schools receiving new principals next school year, were met with opposition from some Cherry Hill community members.
Three Cherry Hill elementary schools will have new principals at the helm in 2017–18 as part of a series of administration changes taking place next year.
Stockton, Kilmer and Cooper elementary schools will have new principals effective July 1, as the Cherry Hill Board of Education approved the reassignments of several district administrators. The changes, which are connected with the creation of a new administrative position, have some community members concerned.
Barbara Wilson, public information officer for Cherry Hill schools, said the district is eliminating its director of guidance position for the 2017–18 school year and replacing it with an athletic director position.
Currently, the district has separate athletic directors at Cherry Hill High School East and Cherry Hill High School West. Wilson said the district athletic director will oversee all middle school and high school sports teams.
The district’s current director of guidance, Jim Riordan, is being moved to Stockton Elementary School as its new principal. Eloisa DeJesus-Woodruff, Stockton’s current principal, will move to Kilmer Elementary. Current Kilmer principal Rebecca Tiernan is being re-assigned to Cooper Elementary.
The changes are being met with some opposition from parents who are upset to see their principal leaving. Some parents voiced concerns about the changes at the Board of Education’s May 23 meeting, where the reassignments were approved.
Most of the concerns stemmed from DeJesus-Woodruff’s reassignment from Stockton. Erum Kahn talked of how DeJesus-Woodruff preached inclusion and created a diverse atmosphere within the school building.
Some were concerned about the status of a program DeJesus-Woodruff helped develop two years ago at Stockton — a partnership between Stockton and Yorkship Family School in Camden. As part of the program, the schools’ administrators, teachers and students would collaborate on activities. Administrators and teachers would shadow each other and share ideas to use in each other’s classrooms. Students would have pen pals and write to a student from the other school.
Members of the Cherry Hill and Camden communities said DeJesus-Woodruff’s reassignment could spell the end of Yorkship’s partnership with Stockton.
“I don’t think that another principal would be able to come in and immediately continue that program and replicate it and make it as strong as it is now,” Cherry Hill resident Susan Druckenbrod said.
“Bridging the gap between two cultures is a good thing,” Camden resident James Rodriguez said. “This is a way of showing togetherness between two communities.”
Prior to the vote on the reassignments, board member Ruth Schultz asked whether the partnership with Yorkship would continue next year. Superintendent Joe Meloche said he didn’t have any information to share on the program. Schultz was the only board member to vote “no” on the reassignments.
A few parents were also concerned about the changes at Kilmer and Cooper. Alisha Lerman, a parent of two Kilmer students, said she and her third-grade daughter were in tears when they found out Tiernan was being transferred.
“She’s done wonderful things with all of the children,” Lerman said.
Fredrick Dande inquired about current Cooper principal Patrice Taylor, who was not reassigned to a new position in the district. Dande started a petition asking the board to keep Taylor at Cooper. The online version of the petition garnered 69 signatures.
Dande criticized the changes. The entire board voted to approve the reassignments except for Schultz and board member Edward Wang, who abstained.
“To not listen and to take time to think through what you are actually doing, that is not leadership,” he said. “That is not putting children first.”
Dande accused the district of firing Taylor, something Meloche refuted.
“There were no principals fired,” Meloche said. “No one was fired. It’s called a reduction in force. It’s based on the number of positions that are available.”
The transition has begun for the three schools. The night after the reassignments were approved, Kilmer held a meet and greet allowing parents to meet DeJesus-Woodruff.
Despite this, some community members said they would continue to fight the reassignments in an effort to get them reversed in the coming months.
“This is not the end of it,” Dande said. “We will work to try and keep these principals.”
