A page from Superintendent Kwame Morton's 2026 "State of the District" presentation on Tuesday evening with high school mascots hugging.
State-supported preschool has expanded rapidly in Cherry Hill, ensuring that young children are prepared for kindergarten and beyond, the school superintendent said in his annual "State of the District" presentation on Tuesday evening.
In 2023, one preschool location was serving 199 students. This fall, 11 locations are teaching about 900 students, Superintendent Kwame R. Morton Sr. said. Two of the preschool sites are in the district and nine are at outside providers.
"Each site follows the same guidelines, curriculum, policies, procedures, calendar and daily schedule," Morton told the board. "Our preschool program is a district within a district."
The district this Friday will apply to the New Jersey Department of Education to continue to grow free preschool — proposing to add 15 additional classrooms and about 225 students, Morton said.
"We believe early exposure or exposure to preschool provides those opportunities for early intervention, early literacy and early schooling opportunities that have been designed to close achievement gaps," he told board members.
As the district grows, the administration and the board have been studying enrollment balancing among the schools. Different solutions have been discussed, but the district decided more thought was needed.
"We made an informed decision to pause," said Morton, who noted that a five-year enrollment projections guide is being developed to help make the decisions.
Just as preschool has grown, the district School-Aged Child Care (SACC) program for all students expanded. It now has the highest enrollment and staffing since 2023-24 and a wait list is required, he said.
The goal, he said, is to eliminate the wait lists and have supply meet the demand for after-school care.
Other points in his report:
- Out of 874 seniors eligible for graduation in June, 873 got their diplomas from the district high schools. About 202 students, or 23%, earned a Seal of Biliteracy.
- The number of Advanced Placement seats filled total 3,020, up from 2,709 in 2024. The schools now offer 34 AP courses and 69% of the students scored four or five on the AP exams.
- At East, 359 students and, at West, 223 students are enrolled in dual credit programs with local colleges and universities.
- More than half of the district's secondary students compete in athletics, a total of about 3,500 athletes.
- With the coming school budget, zero-based budgeting will be the rule with justifiiation need for every spending line. Â
