Cherry Hill Schools Among Most Increases For Drugs, Alcohol: DOE

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Cherry Hill Public School District was among the top 5 districts in New Jersey not just in drug and alcohol use last year, but also when it comes to increased incidents of drugs and alcohol between 2015-16 and 2016-17, according to the most recent statistics available from the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE).

The district had 54 incidents in 2016-17, according to statistics released by NJDOE within the past month. It ranked 5th among districts across the state. It was an increase of 22 incidents over the previous school year, the 4th highest increase among school districts across the state.

School districts are required to by law to report these numbers, and NJDOE said it is up to each district to report these numbers fairly and accurately.

Cherry Hill and Jersey City were the only two districts in the state to rank in the top 5 of both lists. Jersey City reported 94 incidents in 2016-17, an increase of 23 over the previous year. Paterson topped the list of incidents last year with 124, but it also had the largest decrease of any school in the state, with 29 less incidents than the previous year.

Read more here: NJ School Districts With Most Drug, Alcohol Cases, New Data Shows

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