Cherry Hill is considering additions at two schools to ease overcrowding instead of redrawing school boundaries
The district wants to put additions at Clara Barton Elementary and Rosa International Middle to ease overcrowding, instead of redrawing enrollment boundary lines.
The Cherry Hill School District has decided against redrawing its elementary school maps to redistribute students and ease overcrowding.
Instead, the school board will consider adding additions to the two schools with the highest anticipated growth — Clara Barton Elementary and Rosa International Middle School — and continuing to monitor enrollment at four other elementary schools.
The decision was announced Tuesday night when the district presented a highly anticipated report on rebalancing school enrollment. The South Jersey school system had been considering adjusting the boundaries assigned to each of its 12 elementary schools to handle an anticipated increase in students — a move that sparked opposition from some parents.
The recommendation is “a huge win,” said Bruck Lascio, whose children attend Barton. “We’ll take their proposal.”
What does the recommendation involve?
“The administration is not recommending boundary adjustments at this time,” said George Guy, director of elementary education.
Guy said both schools now potentially slated for expansion are expected to have a severe shortage of seats by the 2028-29 school year. Clara Barton would be 69 seats short, and Rosa Middle 51 seats, he said.
The additions, if approved by the school board, would be ready for the start of the 2028-29 school year, Guy said.
The report also recommends that the district monitor enrollment trends at Horace Mann Elementary, which is also expected to have more students than seats. And it calls for another demographic study in 2026-27 to assess needs at all schools.
Guy left open the possibility that Mann could also get an addition to ease overcrowding. The district also plans to monitor enrollment at Joyce Kilmer, Richard Stockton, and Woodcrest Elementary Schools.
Why was rebalancing under consideration?
A demographic study conducted in 2024 showed that five of Cherry Hill’s 12 elementary schools are expected to have a total shortage of 337 seats in the 2028-29 school year, and prompted the school board to look into rebalancing.
Cherry Hill began the rebalancing project with a possibility of changing the boundaries for students at five of its 12 elementary schools. Some elementary schools are nearing capacity, and a few have surplus seats.
In developing a recommendation, Guy had to consider parameters set by the board. It was also important to consider transportation and avoid having students spend longer periods of time on buses.
Board president Gina Winters said the board basically had two choices: shift students where there were available seats or add more capacity to keep students in their neighborhood schools.
Changing the boundaries would have affected 534 children in the district, which enrolls about 11,000 students, Guy said. Clara Barton and James Johnson Elementary Schools would have faced the biggest impact, he said.
The sprawling 24.5-mile community of nearly 75,000 is divided into elementary school zones. Most students are assigned to a neighborhood school within two miles of where they live.
The district also dismissed possible relocation of some special education programs to ease overcrowding because that would further stress students and staff, Guy said.
Guy said creating new English as a second language (ESL) programs at more schools was also considered, but that option was rejected because it would not have adequately addressed the overcrowding.
Also under consideration was converting the Arthur Lewis administration building to an elementary school, which could accommodate about 200 students.
How much would the plan cost?
Guy said the additions are expected to cost between $5 million and $7 million each. The cost would be funded using interest earnings from the district’s $363 million bond referendum approved in 2022, he said.
According to Guy, the costs would not affect the property tax rate. Winters said there could be additional budget costs in the future to hire additional teachers and administrators.
How did parents react to the proposal?
Parents who had lobbied heavily against having their children moved because they like the convenience of neighborhood elementary schools welcomed the recommendations.
“We love our school,” said Katie Daw, whose children attend Clara Barton in the township’s Erlton section. “This is the best-case scenario.”
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Marie Blaker said she had braced for bad news Tuesday. She is part of a Clara Barton group that has organized other parents.
“We didn’t think it was going to go like this,” Blaker said. “I’m thrilled they listened to us.”
What’s next?
The nine-member board did not vote on the recommendations Tuesday night. Winters said the board appeared to support the recommendation.
Winters said public hearings would be held at Barton and Rosa. A final plan is expected by the summer, at which point the board will vote on the proposal.
Guy has said officials are not yet examining future enrollment needs at the remaining middle schools and high schools.
“The reality is that we will be faced with very difficult decisions,” board member Renee Cherfane said.