Board of education president Gina Winters and Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton helped celebrate the new room at Kingston Elementary.
Among major construction work at township school buildings this summer was the building of new all-purpose rooms in six of the district’s 12 elementary schools: Clara Barton, James Johnson, Kingston, A. Russell Knight, Horace Mann and Joseph D. Sharp.
The rooms were among projects paid for with a $363-million bond referendum passed by Cherry Hill voters in 2022. To celebrate their openings, the district held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Kingston on Sept. 18.
While the all-purpose rooms have been in use by students and staff since the beginning of the school year, the ribbon cutting marked their official openings. They have a number of features that will help the schools run programs and activities for the entire student body.
At Kingston, the new room consists of a full-size basketball court with a built-in stage accessible for those with disabilities. Its stage has a light system with different functionalities and the room has an integrated audio-visual system with Bluetooth connectable speakers, a projector and a drop-down screen.
It can be secured from the rest of the building using locked doors, has storage and office space for a physical education teacher and custodial staff and a single-use bathroom.
“It’s a game-changer in terms of a whole group assembly location we didn’t fit real well in,” noted Kingston principal Dr. William Marble. “It wouldn’t fit real well in the former APR. So to have that, and again, in a climate-controlled environment, is really phenomenal.
“In the past,’ he added, “we just limited that to a couple of grade levels so that we could fit them in that assembly. We can do a whole school assembly this year.”
Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton began the ribbon cutting with a story about how he spoke with some of the fourth graders outside for recess before the ceremony. They asked him if those who paid for the new room would be there.
“I thought for a second and I said yeah,” Morton recounted. “And then – in a young lady’s infinite wisdom – she said, ‘My parents have to pay for this.’ And I said, ‘You are absolutely correct.’ And that’s exactly why we’re here.”
Morton thanked people who played a role in getting the referendum passed and the all-purpose rooms built.
“This is the story of us,” he explained. “This is the story of Cherry Hill, and who Cherry Hill is, and what we’re all about, that is a unified community which is highly supportive of its schools and of its students.”
Board of education president Gina Winters recalled the hard work that went into getting the referendum passed. A 2018 referendum to improve the schools was rejected by voters, so when the district was drafting the 2022 measure, community members were asked why the prior referendum had failed.
“The board engaged all corners of the community to identify our collective aspirations for our schools,” Winters pointed out. “The decision was made to do something audacious. As one former board president told me, ‘If you have a choice between safe and bold, choose bold.'”
Current and former members of the board gathered as Morton and Winters used an oversized pair of scissors branded with school district colors of purple and red scissors to cut the ribbon.
Kingston students then made their way to the room’s basketball court.
