Cherry Hill Schools Hit Mark on Anti-Bullying Assessments

All 19 of Cherry Hill’s schools hit the mark when it comes to new self-assessment grades required under the state’s Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights—but don’t try to draw too much out of the numbers, school officials and school board members said.

The self-assessments, which rank schools in the district anywhere from 50 to 74 on a 75-point scale, only tell a piece of the story—whether individual schools are hitting the standards required by the state, indicated by a score of 50 or above—and don’t reflect how many incidents of bullying happen, or the outcomes of those incidents.

“This reflects the process…it’s not a reflection of who had a high number of investigations,” said Superintendent Maureen Reusche. “It focuses solely on how that team works.”

Individual school safety teams had to grade themselves, school officials said, which also made for a wide swing in the numbers from building to building, as those teams ranked themselves from zero to three on each of 25 different pieces of the self-assessment.

“It’s a self-assessment, so it really is the building determining here’s how we believe we’ve met the requirements in the law,” said district anti-bullying coordinator LaCoyya Weathington. “It could not be a unilateral decision by the principal or us in the central office.”

The focus was less on those schools scoring closer to the state standard of 50 points, and more on those on the high end, officials said, especially in terms of evidence supporting those scores, including meeting minutes and sign-in sheets to provide documentation for things like meetings with community members or law enforcement.

Ultimately, the point is the district is in line with what the state requires under the anti-bullying law, school board member and policy committee chairman Steve Robbins said.

“It’s very difficult to glean any real meaning out of these numbers,” he said. “The important part is we’re complying. We are more than diligent…I’m very confident and comfortable with these numbers.”

The self-assessment grades for all 19 schools are below:

• Barclay—54
• Barton—68
• Cooper—64
• Harte—67
• Johnson—60
• Kilmer—68
• Kingston—69
• Knight—59
• Mann—50
• Paine—63
• Sharp—55
• Stockton—73
• Woodcrest—74
• Beck—71
• Carusi—66
• Rosa—71
• East—66
• West—66
• Alternative High School—60