Cherry Hill School District to move to junior high model, citing about $3 million in savings

Dr. Kwame Morton, Cherry Hill School District superintendent, said the district will move its middle schools to a junior high model to respond to a roughly $4,000,000 drop in state aid and to realize approximately $3,000,000 in savings. The plan, explained in a district podcast interview with Dr. Neal Burdi, director of secondary education, will shift scheduling, cap class sizes and add a supervised end-of-day period called WIN ("What I Need").

District officials said the change replaces the middle-school team and advisory structure with a departmentalized schedule similar to Cherry Hill East and West high schools. "A middle school model, as we've come to know it in Cherry Hill, really...centers on the notion of starting the day with advisory, having a team structure," Burdi said, adding that the junior high model will move toward departmentalization while retaining "best practice instruction for kids that are 11 to 14 years old" and maintaining arts, electives and extracurricular offerings.

Morton framed the change as fiscally driven: "the district was, faced with a $4,000,000 deficit in terms of state aid compared to last year," he said, and the restructure "comes with the savings of approximately $3,000,000." Officials said they intend to preserve core student experiences even as the schedule changes.

One concrete operational change is a firm cap on class size. Officials said some classes at Rosa International Middle School had topped the thirties, and under the new sectioning process the district will cap classes at 26 students. "We capped it at 26, which is comparable to fifth grade," Burdi said, noting the number was chosen to be proportionate to students' elementary experience.

The day will begin without advisory; instead, students will report to an extended first period for attendance and announcements. To replace the supports advisory provided, the district will add a WIN period at the end of the day for individualized needs. "WIN stands for what I need," Burdi said. He described the period as flexible time for band, orchestra and chorus lessons, academic intervention, enrichment, guest speakers, assemblies, supervised study under a certified teacher and club meetings so students do not miss core instruction for extracurriculars.

Officials emphasized special education continuity. "We are not (making) any impact to the way IEPs are implemented," Burdi said, explaining the scheduling process begins with students who have IEPs so their programs can be delivered with fidelity.

Counselors will remain the grade-level point of contact for families and continue to arrange parent-teacher conferences, Morton and Burdi said. On facilities, Burdi said principals are exploring grade-specific hallway or pod arrangements (for example, keeping sixth graders together) to limit travel while construction and scheduling logistics are finalized, though feasibility will vary by building.

Morton and Burdi described the junior high transition as designed to maximize instructional time and minimize unstructured time while keeping beloved programs intact. The district will hold informational sessions at all middle schools on June 11, June 12 and June 16 to present details to families and staff.

No formal board vote or personnel actions were discussed during the podcast; officials presented the plan and outreach dates and said further implementation details would be shared at upcoming informational events.