Cherry Hill Student Protests Draw National Attention

CHERRY HILL, NJ — During Tuesday night’s Board of Education meeting, one Cherry Hill resident mockingly congratulated the district in the wake of recent events.

“You always wanted the district to be known throughout the United States,” resident Rita McClellan told the board. “Congratulations. Cherry Hill is now known nationally as a district that is not safe.”

Indeed recent protests at Cherry Hill High School East has picked up national attention from Newsweek, The Hill and The Morning Call. On Monday, students held a protest in the hallways of Cherry Hill High School East after 59-year-old Timothy Locke, an AP History Teacher, was reportedly suspended for comments he made concerning security at the school last week.

The protest picked up steam — and national attention — after Tuesday morning’s walkout, in which hundreds of students left class and went out to the school’s football field in protest.

It’s not surprising that the issue has drawn national attention, as school security has become a hot topic across the country in the wake of the shootings at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed on Valentine’s Day.

Tuesday night’s meeting, in which students and parents expressed their own concerns about safety and communication from the district, drew the attention of local news stations, including 6 ABC, Fox 29, CBS 3, WHYY and KYW. A board meeting that might typically see 12 people in the audience was suddenly leading local TV newscasts.

There have been walkouts at other schools locally, and a student was arrested for threatening to "shoot up" Eastern Regional High School. Jacob Finkelstein, 18, of Voorhees, was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree false public alarm and one count of third degree terroristic threats one day after the shootings in Florida.

There was no national attention for that incident, but Cherry Hill has drawn the kind of national attention residents weren't looking for.

“You should be ashamed of yourselves,” McClellan said in addressing the board. “You should all be hanging your heads.”

Patch file photo