Cherry Hill BOE forum returns in person Sept. 15

Eight candidates for three Cherry Hill Board of Education seats will face community questions Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the first in-person forum since the pandemic.

The forum runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Cherry Hill High School West auditorium. Residents who cannot attend can join remotely via Zoom. The Zone PTA is sponsoring the event, and the League of Women Voters will moderate, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The 2024 forum was held entirely online via Zoom, according to a Cherry Hill Zone PTA post on X. The Zone PTA describes the Sept. 15 event as the first in-person forum since the pandemic.

Jamie Marchese, chair of the Zone PTA and a Windsor Park neighborhood parent with three children in Cherry Hill schools, said residents had been asking for a return to a live audience. "Not everyone likes to sit in front of a screen and watch," Marchese told The Philadelphia Inquirer in a Sept. 3 article.

Marchese identified special education and student use of electronic devices as likely hot topics. The district is also in the middle of a renovation program financed by a $363 million bond referendum voters approved in 2022.

Residents can submit questions for the candidates until 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11. The Zone PTA's five-member board represents the district's 18 school PTAs and the special education PTA.

The forum format gives each candidate two minutes for an opening statement, one minute to respond to each question and two minutes for a closing statement. Some questions may be combined to fit the two-hour window.

Three seats with three-year terms are on the Nov. 3 ballot. The eight candidates, listed in ballot order per Camden County election records: