Teacher Rachel Haine (at mic) wanted to know why the proposed budget does not include cuts in administrative positions.
Five Cherry Hill teachers attended the township board of education’s April 14 meeting to address cuts in computer science and world language positions that are among $14.5 million in reductions in the district’s proposed 2026-’27 budget.
Board member Melissa Manzano stressed the importance of both subjects to students.
“At the elementary level, world language instruction is expected to be consistent, sequential and developmentally appropriate, beginning in kindergarten,” she argued. “I think it’s appropriate that we are very clear on how that requirement will continue to be met if we move away from having dedicated staff.
“Access to meaningful technology in computer science learning is no longer optional. It’s an essential part of preparing students for the world they’re growing up in.”
The proposed budget – announced at the board’s March 24 meeting – contains staffing cuts of $6.5 million. That will mean 70 eliminated positions, 76% of which will be from attrition. Specific positions to be cut have yet to be announced and won’t be finalized until the board approves its final budget on Tuesday.
But Waleska Batista-Arias – president of the Cherry Hill Education Association – told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the union had been notified that 14 teachers and four non-instructional staff members would be laid off, and that computer science instructors and two of the district’s five Spanish teachers will be reassigned.
“These are not areas that can simply be absorbed without structure or expertise,” Manzano maintained. “My concern is that without a clearly defined and supportive plan, we risk diminishing the quality and the consistency of these programs across our schools.
“I would urge us to take a very close look at whether there are viable alternatives that could preserve both the integrity of these programs and the expertise of the educators who currently deliver them.”
Rachel Haine, a teacher in the district with two children in elementary school, pointed out at the meeting that the amount of administrative positions has increased at a higher rate than teaching positions and suggested the district cut those, too.
“Any good bookkeeper might tell you if your finances are tight, look at your biggest expenses first,” Haine argued. “Therefore, this begs the question: Will there be cuts at all levels? Instead of just cutting programs for students, like world language and computer science, instead of just reducing teachers that directly support students, instead of just increasing class sizes.
“Will there be a real reduction or transfer to the biggest salaries in the budget?”
Jacqueline Woods, a computer science teacher for 22 years at Bret Harte Elementary, said she understands the board’s financial situation, but she doesn’t agree cuts should be made in the subject.
“This district has invested in computer science for years and hired dedicated technology teachers,” she pointed out. “It brought in technology coaches. It built curriculum. It sent us to professional development. They bought us materials like amazing coding robots …
“You (board members) are being asked to destroy what we built together … Every comparable district in South Jersey protected this program. Cherry Hill is preparing to be the exception – while still raising taxes.”
Computer science teacher Eileen Steidle testified to how students benefit from her classes.
“I have watched students from every background find something in the subject that is uniquely theirs,” she told board members at the meeting. ” … The board’s own portrait of a graduate promises students who are innovative creators of technology, not just passive users. Students ready for a future economy in a world yet to exist.
“That is your promise to this community. Computer science teachers are how you keep it.”
According to a state report, there were only about 8.6% of students in New Jersey taking computer science classes in the 2024-’25 school year, mainly because they didn’t have that foundation in their earlier years. A foundation, Steidle added, that is what she and other teachers in the subject now provide.
“Without us, without elementary computer science, who teaches that foundation?” she asked rhetorically. “No one. And the deficit compounds, year after year in every classroom that follows.”
Teacher Jennifer Henry was adamant that the district would make Cherry Hill less desirable to parents if it goes ahead with computer science cuts.
“Cherry Hill is a district that families actively choose,” she said. “When families explore communities, they look closely at both class size and program offerings. Maintaining strong, forward-looking programs like elementary computer science helps reinforce the value and competitiveness of our schools.
” … History will not remember this budget line. It will remember what the board chose to protect and what it chose to abandon when the children of Cherry Hill needed it most.”
“What we give up, we can’t give back,” said Kristen Damico, who has two kids in middle and elementary school. “We might not be able to get it back. Based on all the recommendations … we should have essential and intentional components with world language, with computer science.
“This is the way our world is,” she added. “This is the way we’re going. And to give that up in K-5, at this point, how will we get it back? Will we ever?”
The five teachers had no further comment on the budget after the meeting.
Nina Baratti, the district’s public information officer, said if there were any changes in the budget, they would be addressed by Superintendent Kwame Morton before Tuesday’s vote. But he did speak at the end of the board session.
“I agree and share in everything that’s been stated,” he explained. “We’re not eliminating those things. They’re statutory requirements. They’re requirements that the state has that we we are required to teach these things. Being placed in the position that we are in requires that we think differently about how we provide that instruction to our students.”
Morton declined to comment further.
