Cherry Hill High School East (also known as Cherry Hill East or CHE) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating as part of the Cherry Hill Public Schools. Cherry Hill East is one of three high schools in the district; the others are Cherry Hill High School West and the Coles High School Program.
As of the 2024–25 school year, the school had an enrollment of 2,120 students and 143.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 14.8:1. There were 329 students (15.5% of enrollment) eligible for free lunch and 62 (2.9% of students) eligible for reduced-cost lunch.School data for Cherry Hill High School East, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed January 15, 2026.
History Due to delays in the construction of the new school building, the entering class of 450 students at Cherry Hill East began the 1966–67 school year attending split sessions at the original Cherry Hill High School building.
Constructed at a cost of $4 million (equivalent to $ million in ), the school building opened in January 1967 as the township's second high school facility. What then became known as Cherry Hill High School West was the first public high school in Cherry Hill.
Starting in the 2024–25 school year, the Cherry Hill Alternative High School was moved from the Lewis Administration Building and renamed as Coles High School Program, operated as a school-within-a-school at Cherry Hill High School East.Liu, Emily. "District announces new location for alternative high school Program to be relocated to Cherry Hill East this fall", Cherry Hill News, April 2, 2024. Accessed September 14, 2025. "The Cherry Hill board of education has announced that Coles Alternative High School program will move from the Lewis Administration Building to East High as 'a school within a school' beginning in the fall.... A school within a school is defined as having 30 to 250 students, a separate administrator or teacher in charge, and a space specifically dedicated to it within another public school."
Social activism
Student demonstrations for school security On February 26, 2018, in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas high school shooting and the March for Our Lives Movement, student leaders staged an auditorium protest against the suspension of a popular history teacher after the teacher claimed that a school shooting was imminent at Cherry Hill East, stating "I have the gun".Nark, Jason. "Cherry Hill teacher suspended over shooting comments connected with students through stories.", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 3, 2018. Accessed May 31, 2022. The following day, hundreds of students staged a school walkout. They walked through the school's sidewalks and 17 laps around the track field in honor of the 17 victims of the Stoneman Douglas shooting. The walkout lasted around an hour before students returned to class. A petition urging the teacher's reinstatement was signed by 500 students. During a school board meeting with Cherry Hill Public Schools Superintendent Joseph Meloche that night, frustrated parents and students voiced their grievances about the school's security and the teacher's suspension.Chang, David; Nakano, Denise; and Stamm, David. "Hundreds of Cherry Hill East Students Walk Out to Protest Suspension of Teacher Who Spoke on Safety Concerns; The students claim that the Cherry Hill High School East principal threatened to suspend them or cancel prom and the senior trip if they went through with the planned walkout.", WCAU, February 27, 2018. Accessed February 6, 2022. "Timothy Locke, a popular AP History teacher at the school, was suspended Thursday after he discussed security concerns in the wake of the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. A petition requesting that Locke be reinstated was signed by 500 students. Some students also staged a protest in support of Locke at the school auditorium Monday and planned the walkout Tuesday."Pierre, Aine. "At 'Coffee with the Superintendent,' many parents address concerns over recent events in the district", Eastside Online, February 27, 2018. Accessed February 6, 2022.
Student advocacy for mandatory African-American history course A group of East students from the Cherry Hill East African American Culture Club advocated for a mandatory African American history course in order to graduate. After impassioned speeches by student activists from a variety of backgrounds at a virtual board meeting for Cherry Hill Public Schools in February 2021, the board voted 8–0 to make the course a requirement for graduation. This mandate, the first of its kind in the state, has been in effect since the 2021–2022 school year course.
Awards, recognition and rankings For the 2001–02 school year, Cherry Hill High School East received the National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence from the United States Department of Education, the highest honor that an American school can achieve.National Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982 Through 2019 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed September 1, 2024.
In 2015, Newsweek ranked Cherry Hill High School East the 85th best high school in the nation out of 22,000 schools.
In its 2013 report on "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast ranked the school 354th in the nation among participating public high schools and 29th among schools in New Jersey.Streib, Lauren. "America's Best High Schools", The Daily Beast, May 6, 2013. Accessed May 8, 2013.
In the 2011 "Ranking America's High Schools" issue by The Washington Post, the school was ranked 65th in New Jersey and 1,833rd nationwide.Mathews, Jay. "The High School Challenge 2011: Cherry Hill East High School" , The Washington Post. Accessed July 19, 2011. The school was ranked 1,664th nationwide, the 66th-highest in New Jersey, in Newsweek magazine's 2010 rankings of America's Best High Schools.Staff. "America's Best High Schools: The List", Newsweek, June 13, 2010. Accessed March 27, 2011. In Newsweek's 2007 edition of "America's Top Public High Schools" ranked Cherry Hill High School East in 1,258th place, the 38th-highest ranked school in New Jersey."The Top of the Class: The complete list of the 1,300 top U.S. schools", Newsweek, May 22, 2007. Accessed February 22, 2008.
The school was the 40th-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 98th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 57th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 10, 2012. The magazine ranked the school 61st in 2008 out of 316 schools.Staff. "2010 Top High Schools", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2010. Accessed February 3, 2011. The school was ranked 42nd in the magazine's September 2006 issue, which included 316 schools across the state. Schooldigger.com ranked the school tied for 36th out of 381 public high schools statewide in its 2011 rankings (an increase of 16 positions from the 2010 ranking) which were based on the combined percentage of students classified as proficient or above proficient on the mathematics (93.3%) and language arts literacy (98.3%) components of the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA).
Cherry Hill High School East won the 1998 National High School Mock Trial Championship, held in Albuquerque, New Mexico.Participant History & Past National Winners, National High School Mock Trial Championship. Accessed July 1, 2007.
The American Scholastic Press Association named Cherry Hill High School East's newspaper Eastside number one in the country in 2005, 2017, and 2019, and number one in the state from 2007 to 2019.2006 profile, Cherry Hill High School East. Accessed June 23, 2011. In 2023, the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), which honors top scholastic journalism, awarded the Eastside staff with various accolades: Second Place for Multimedia Feature Story, Fifth Place for Multimedia Sports Story, and Honorable mention for Multimedia News Story. Additionally, in 2022, NSPA awarded Eastside an Online Pacemaker, the preeminent recognition given by the association.
In 2009, the team representing Cherry Hill High School East produced a documentary that placed nationally in the Senior Group Documentary division of the National History Day competition in College Park, Maryland.Linnehan, Robert. , Cherryhill.com, July 24, 2009. Accessed May 14, 2015. "Five Cherry Hill East students - Matthew Bogdonoff, Brendon Rush, Jonathan Silverstone, Alex Swartz, and Jake Tuff - created a video documentary entitled, Thomas Paine: The Action of One; The Legacy of Many. The documentary placed fifth in the nation in the category of Senior Group Documentary."
2007 grade-fixing scandal In 2007, the school received coverage for a grade-fixing incident after two students were found to have used a teacher's password to hack into the board of education's database and change at least six other students' grades. In September 2006, during a routine check, the school became aware of the changes and began an investigation with the police. In January 2007, two students were arrested for the crime and charged with third degree computer theft. One was a freshman at Drexel University while the other was still a senior at East.Hefler, Jan. , The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 10, 2007. Accessed May 13, 2015. The students received probation after pleading guilty.Osborne, James; and Simon, Darran. , The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 26, 2010. Accessed May 14, 2015. "In 2007, two students were charged with breaking into Cherry Hill High School East's computer system and changing other students' grades in exchange for money. Both pleaded guilty and were sentenced to probation." Four more students were disciplined by the school for paying the two hackers to change their grades.
2018 STOPit school shooting threats In 2018, in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, the school district had adopted the STOPit app to enable students to report safety concerns to guidance counselors and school administrators. On September 7, 2018, an incident was reported on STOPit about a student who had made remarks about plotting a school shooting at Cherry Hill East. This report had included details about this particular student's remarks in person and on social media, discussing potential targets, and this person's alleged goals to kill as many students as possible and to make national headlines. A "shelter-in-place" was called because the student allegedly making these threats could not be located. The student was located and questioned by the police. This student convinced school officials and the police they never made threats against Cherry Hill East and identified a possible suspect. The suspect sparred evenly with questioning by school officials, but eventually confessed. Assistant Principal Louis C. Papa called this "a criminal act" and stated that appropriate actions were taken by the school district and the police against this student.
Dismissal of David Francis-Maurer