Member Renee Cherfane proposed at the township school board’s meeting on May 12 that the district reconsider African American studies as a graduation requirement.
Students are currently required to take a variety of classes, with 20 credits in English; 15 in social studies; and 2.5 in financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy. The board requirement says that students in ninth or 10th grade need 2.5 credits in African American Studies.
The class – which is not mandated by the state – was added in 2021, a move that made news at the time because Cherry Hill was the first school district to require it. The addition was championed by township students following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
But Cherfane maintained that because of its tight budget, the school district should consider cuts that would include the course.
“I think in spirit of our unfortunate budget situation every single year,” she noted, “I think it would be very important for us to weigh the options of things that are not state regulations that we require for graduation, and maybe do some consideration on what that looks like.
“That class (African American Studies) can still be offered as an elective to students,” Cherfane added. “So we wouldn’t be getting rid of it entirely.”
Cherfane initially made a motion to refer her suggestion to the township’s policy and legislation committee; it got a second from board member Dean Drizin. Another board member, Miriam Stern, asked why Cherfane was focused on African American studies when there are other courses the state doesn’t mandate that could be considered for cuts, such as world language and multi-variable calculus.
Cherfane did not clarify why she proposed removing the African American studies requirement, but said the district should be willing to have a discussion on its impact if it plans other cuts.
“If we’re this year cutting teachers and certain programmatic requirements,” she explained, “that seems to me to be the only requirement in this policy that’s limiting the district to make decisions on that programming … I don’t know how far I can go with this discussion at this moment … but knowing that eliminating that requirement will impact our budget directly, I would like to open discussion to see what the direct impact to our students is of requiring that (African American studies) class.”
Drizin agreed with Stern and asked if the district would consider all required classes for cuts. Board president Gina Winters said the course became a requirement because students wanted it to be.
“I also think that our role is to support Cherry Hill public school education, which may be different than the needs in other districts,” she offered. “And I’m sure other districts have district specific things that they do as well. I understand that it’s a tight budget, but I also think we have a responsibility as a board to educate our children in the things the community thinks are important.”
The board motion to reconsider African American studies as a graduation requirement got a yes vote from Cherfane and one no vote from board member Candi Cummings before Drizin asked about considering other requirements. Winters interrupted him to clarify that the board vote only addressed the African American studies course.
Drizin said he was unaware before the meeting that Cherfane was going to propose ending the course. She responded that “for the sake of everyone feeling prepared and understanding the dynamics of this situation,” she decided to withdraw her motion for now.
It’s unclear exactly what motion will be put to the board at its next meeting on Tuesday, May 26.
It’s also unclear why exactly Cherfane focused specifically on reconsidering the African American studies requirement. The district’s public information officer, Nina Baratti, did not respond to a request for comment.
School board member Renee Cherfane suggested the African American studies course could be an elective and not a graduation requirement.
