Cherry Hill East’s new principal wants to lead with ‘visibility and stability’ after a year of turnover
John Cafagna has spent nearly three decades as an educator in the Cherry Hill School District. In July, he'll take the helm of its largest high school.
John Cafagna remembers exactly where he first found a “love of education.”
He was a college student in the 1990s studying psychology and criminal justice, unsure about what he wanted to do with his career. As an undergraduate, he got a job at a private school where his father was the principal. A passion for teaching clicked during that first job, launching Cafagna into a three-decade-long career in the world of South Jersey education.
Now, the longtime Cherry Hill teacher and administrator is preparing to take the helm of Cherry Hill High School East as its principal, beginning in July. As the school resets after a tumultuous year of administrative turnover, Cafagna, 50, hopes to bring “visibility and stability” to the 2,100-student high school.
Discussing visibility in education, the longtime educator said there is a disconnect between the public’s perception of what happens in schools and reality. Satisfaction with public education is at a record low, and districts are regularly tasked with combating misinformation about what is happening within school walls, from budgets to diversity initiatives.
Rather than dismiss concerns, Cafagna wants to engage with them, bringing people into the fold and showing them what East has to offer, from drama performances to academics.
“A lot of people buy into something that’s posted online, in social media, and it becomes truth before it’s even asked,” he said.
“My job in a public school is to welcome everybody, make sure that they feel safe, make sure they feel heard, and make sure they know that we’re moving in a positive direction. I always say it’s combating things with facts, but not being defensive.”
Cafagna also wants to bring consistency to a school rocked by a year of administrative shake-ups.
Last May, East students protested the district’s decision not to renew the contract of David Francis-Maurer, a former assistant principal. Francis-Maurer later sued the district, alleging he was subjected to discrimination and retaliation for blowing the whistle on alleged discriminatory behavior by former principal Daniel Finkle. Finkle, who resigned last fall, claims that he did not engage in discriminatory behavior and that “job performance and nothing else” led to Francis-Maurer’s contract being terminated.
Neil Burti, Cherry Hill’s director of secondary education, has been handling East’s principal responsibilities since February, when Leslie Walker, the interim East principal, stepped down.
East’s families “know that I’m going to bring stability,” Cafagna said.
Cafagna grew up in Voorhees and graduated from Eastern Regional High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rowan University in 1998 and subsequently took a job in the Cherry Hill school district as an educational technologist, supporting the district’s web and technology infrastructure.
Cafagna climbed the ranks in the Cherry Hill school system and earned a master’s degree in educational leadership and a doctorate in educational administration from Capella University. He was a teacher and basketball coach at Rosa International Middle School, then Rosa’s assistant principal. Cafagna then served as the principal of Cherry Hill’s alternative high school; Bret Harte Elementary School; John A. Carusi Middle School; Horace Mann Elementary School; and Rosa International Middle School, all in the Cherry Hill district.
In a way, Cafagna says, he “grew up in this district.” Though he spent his childhood in Voorhees, he became an adult, a teacher, and a leader in Cherry Hill (“my grown-up career of growing up,” he calls it).
The incoming principal is planning a “visibility blitz and listening tour” with students, teachers, and parents. He wants all students in the building to have a trusted adult they feel they can talk to, “making sure everybody knows that this is their East.” A tech guy by trade, he wants to use data to help solve problems and eliminate the “roadblocks” making teachers’ jobs harder.
Cafagna sees evolving technology as an “exciting” opportunity for East. When he started in the district, he said, Cherry Hill had “big, bulky computers” that students were not allowed to touch. Now, educators are contending with artificial intelligence, cell phones, and an ever-advancing suite of educational technology programs.
Cafagna said the most important thing is “teaching people how they use tools the right way.”
Rather than shy away from emerging technology, the incoming principal wants his educators to lean in responsibly, teaching students how to navigate a changing world appropriately.
“If you just take things away from people, unfortunately, they’re going to be used the wrong way,” he said.
Cafagna officially takes the helm of East on July 1 and has been working with Burti in the interim to make it a “seamless transition.”
Though leading East is a new challenge, Cafagna feels fortified by his decades in the district. He has begun seeing the children of former students pass through his hallways. He has even hired some former students as teachers.
“Knowing that I’m coming into a place where people want me to be,” he said, “that’s exciting.”
Inquirer Cherry Hill
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