Cherokee High School (New Jersey)

Cherokee High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as one of four high schools of the Lenape Regional High School District in Burlington County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The communities in the district are Evesham Township, Medford Lakes, Medford, Mount Laurel, Shamong Township, Southampton Township, Tabernacle Township and Woodland Township.Sending Schools, Lenape Regional High School District. Accessed June 25, 2025.Lenape Regional High School District 2016 Report Card Narrative , New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 2, 2017. "The Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) serves the eight municipalities of Evesham, Medford, Mount Laurel, Shamong, Southampton, Tabernacle and Woodland Townships and Medford Lakes Borough." Cherokee serves students from Evesham Township.Cherokee High School 2016 Report Card Narrative, New Jersey School Report Card. Accessed December 2, 2017. "Attendance Area: Evesham Township - From its first days through the present, Cherokee High School has been strengthened by serving a single community: the township of Evesham. Cherokee High School opened on a 71-acre site in the township in September, 1975." The school, located in the Marlton section of Evesham Township, has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1978 and is accredited until July 2028.Cherokee High School, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commissions on Elementary and Secondary Schools. Accessed December 18, 2024.

As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,082 students and 155.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.4:1. There were 279 students (13.4% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 72 (3.5% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Cherokee High School, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.

History With overcrowding at both Lenape High School (with 2,400 students) and Shawnee High School (1,600) requiring split sessions, voters approved a December 1972 referendum to construct a third high school with a capacity of 1,500 students that would be built on the same model as Shawnee. The ballot item was approved by a 55-45% margin, with voters in favor in the townships of Evesham, Medford and Mount Laurel, while it was rejected in Medford Lakes and the townships of Shamong, Southampton and Tabernacle.Ross, Adele. "Lenape School; $7.6 Million Bond OKd By Voters", Courier-Post, December 6, 1972. Accessed March 13, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Voters in the Lenape Regional School District last night approved by a slim margin a $7,695,000 bond issue to give the district the funds to build a third high school. Voting returns showed a count of 1,623 to 1,329 in favor of the bond issue, which means the regional school board can plan on breaking ground in the spring. Although the issue passed by a 293-vote plurality, it was defeated in four of the seven municipalities served by the district.... The facility is expected to open for the 1975-76 school year. The new high school will be built on a 71-acre tract between the Marlton and Kresson sections of Evesham Township, the district's most populous area, to relieve overcrowded conditions in the district's two existing facilities. The 1,500-student school will be built on a tract off Tomlin-son Mill Road and will be constructed from the same plans as was the Shawnee High School in Medford.... Overcrowded conditions at both Shawnee and Lenape high schools will necessitate split sessions at the two facilities in the next two years, the superintendent said. Lenape's rolls now top 2,400 students with 2,600 expected next year. There are more than 1,600 students at Shawnee, where an increase of 200 is anticipated in September 1973."

With district enrollment up to nearly 5,000, Cherokee High School opened in September 1975 with 750 students in grades 9 and 10. The school was constructed at a cost of $7 million (equivalent to $ million in ) on a site in Evesham Township covering .Curran, Karen. "High schools in Delran, Evesham ready to open", Courier-Post, August 21, 1975. Accessed March 13, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "It is for students from Evesham, but it's also for students from the six other towns which make up the Lenape Regional High School District. The local share of the $7 million cost of Cherokee High School, the third school in the Lenape district, will be shared by the seven municipalities according to the percentage of tax ratables they have within the district as a whole. Of the district's 4,950 high school students, 750 ninth and tenth graders will go to Cherokee in the fall."Staff. "Hall of Fame to honor Lenape High School student-athletes", Burlington County Times, July 6, 2017. Accessed January 19, 2020. "The schools of the Lenape Regional School District have produced thousands of graduates who have distinguished themselves as stellar athletes over the nearly 60 years since Lenape High School opened in 1958, Shawnee High School in 1970, Cherokee High School in 1975 and Seneca High School in 2003."Profile, Lenape Regional High School District. Accessed April 16, 2016. "By September 1975, a third high school, Cherokee, had been built on a 71 – acre tract at Tomlinson Mill and Willow Bend roads in Evesham Township."

The school was known as simply Cherokee High School until the opening of the "South" building in September 2001 for 1,150 students in grades 9–10, which was constructed at a cost of $26.4 million (equivalent to $ million in ), at which time the original building was renamed as "Cherokee High School North.""Cherokee South receives A+", Courier-Post, September 9, 2001. Accessed March 13, 2022, via newspapers.com. "Education leaders from Burlington County gathered here Saturday to ceremonially throw open the doors to the new $26.4 million Cherokee High School South. It is a school within a school that is now home for 1,150 ninth and tenth-graders who live in the township.... On Tuesday, the 210,000-square-foot addition opened to freshmen with state-of-the-art laboratories, spacious corridors and natural lighting around virtually every corner. Combined with the former Cherokee High School, now called Cherokee North, the education complex stretches some 455,000 square feet." In 2018, with the retirement of the South principal, Leonard Iannelli, Cherokee eliminated the position, effectively merging the North and South building into one school.Hatoff, Mark. "One Of Two Principal Positions To Be Eliminated At Cherokee High", Pine Barrens Tribune, May 11, 2018. Accessed January 19, 2020. "The Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) Board of Education will eliminate one of two Cherokee High School principal positions in the 2018-19 school year, following an Aug. 1 retirement of longtime Cherokee South Principal Leonard Iannelli, according to Finance Committee Chair David Stow. The use of separate Cherokee High School North and South designations had been used to justify having two principals at what is essentially the same school, even though a similarly redundant position was eliminated a couple years ago at Lenape High School."

Awards, recognition and rankings The school was the 80th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014. The school had been ranked 157th in the state out of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 134th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 4, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 152nd in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed March 17, 2011. The school was ranked 131st in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which surveyed 316 schools across the state.Staff. "Top New Jersey High Schools 2008: By Rank", New Jersey Monthly, August 7, 2008. Accessed February 7, 2015. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 86th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 30 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (87.9%) and language arts literacy (97.0%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).School Overview; Click on "Rankings" for 2003-11 HSPA results, Schooldigger.com. Accessed March 10, 2012.

Athletics The Cherokee High School ChiefsCherokee High School, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. participate in the Olympic Conference, which is comprised of public and private high schools located in Burlington and Camden counties, and operates under the supervision of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.League & Conference Officers/Affiliated Schools 2020-2021, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed October 20, 2020. With 1,616 students in grades 10–12, the school was classified by the NJSIAA for the 2019–20 school year as Group IV for most athletic competition purposes, which included schools with an enrollment of 1,060 to 5,049 students in that grade range.NJSIAA General Public School Classifications 2019–2020, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association. Accessed November 20, 2020. The football team competes in the Continental Division of the 94-team West Jersey Football League superconferenceCherokee Chiefs, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023.Home Page, West Jersey Football League. Accessed May 1, 2023. "The WJFL is a 94-school super conference that stretches from Princeton to Wildwood encompassing schools from the Colonial Valley Conference, the Burlington County Scholastic League, the Olympic Conference, the Tri-County Conference, the Colonial Conference, and the Cape Atlantic League. The WJFL is made up of sixteen divisions with divisional alignments based on school size, geography and a strength-of-program component." and was classified by the NJSIAA as Group V South for football for 2024–2026, which included schools with 1,333 to 2,324 students.NJSIAA Football Public School Classifications 2024–2026, New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, updated September 2024. Accessed September 1, 2024.

The football team has a rivalry with Shawnee High School that was listed at 22nd on NJ.com's 2017 list "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football". Cherokee leads the rivalry with a 28-17-1 record as of 2017.Stypulkoski, Matt. "Ranking the 31 fiercest rivalries in N.J. HS football", NJ Advance Media for NJ.com, October 27, 2017, updated May 15, 2019. Accessed December 1, 2020. "22-Cherokee vs. Shawnee... These Burlington County rivals have developed into powerhouse teams in their respective groups, Cherokee in South Jersey Group 5 and Shawnee in South Jersey Group 4.... The series started in 1976. All-time series: Cherokee leads, 28-17-1"

Basketball championships Sectional champions: South Jersey Group IV – 2007, defeating Winslow Township High School 54–43. and 2010, defeating Shawnee High School 56–43.Staff. "Boys Basketball - 2009-10 NJSIAA Tournament - South, Group 4 - Round 4 - Game 1 - Boys Basketball", The Star-Ledger, March 9, 2010. Accessed July 25, 2011. "Willis Nicholson scored 18 points to pace Cherokee to a 56-43 victory over Shawnee Last night in the NJSIAA/ShopRite South Jersey, Group 4 final in Marlton."