By: Justin Gick ‘16
Assistant Editor in Chief

As most of you know, she will be leaving the Cherry Hill School District to take on a new Superintendent position.  Dr. Reusche has been asked to lead the Haverford School District in Pennsylvania.  I felt that it was important to follow up with her to see what she felt she had accomplished here and what goals she saw for her future endeavors.
Dr. Reusche explained that her goal was not always to become a school administrator.  As a college student, she never really thought about administration, she truly aspired to become a teacher. She wanted to mainly work in classrooms with children. Dr. Reusche feels that she has    been blessed throughout her career to work in both areas.  She has met many people who have always encouraged her to look beyond what she was doing and see how she could impact greater groups of individuals.
Her position as Superintendent has allowed her to build and establish many relationships throughout the community, central office, and all of the different school buildings. She enjoyed forming teams and really focusing/looking at how the central office could help and support what needed to take place in the schools. She aimed to have a more visible presence with students.
Dr. Reusche shared that the schools organize and display students work at the Art Shows. She is often asked to display students’ artwork in her office. She then invites the students and families for an informal meeting. She hopes this will still continue because it is one of the areas that she has received a lot of positive feedback.
Also, since the time she has been in Cherry Hill, she has studied/researched at how time is utilized at all of the educational levels.  She and her team have done extensive work at the elementary level and there have been many benefits. She worked closely with teachers and principals, at what has become known in the educational world, as “professional learning communities.
“What are some of the tasks she did not have an opportunity to complete?”  “What does she wish she could have accomplished during her time in Cherry Hill?” She said that she had hoped to have a more definitive plan which would identify specifically how they could address the facility needs and concerns.  It is important to clarify what the facility needs are and then lay out a long range plan with goals. This way, people can gain the necessary information (stay informed) and also put events in a sequence order (have a time line/time frame). It would be helpful for parents, students, staff, and community to know when certain work would be starting, how long the process may take, if there are any problems or issues that may prevent/hinder the work from getting done.
As far as her decision to leave Cherry Hill, she explained that this work opportunity arose in the community where she grew up  and had also lived there with her own children.  It is also the neighborhood where her mother still resides. It is that sense of community which is really what drew her to consider applying for the position.
In the Haverford School District some of the first goals will be to earn about the present culture and climate within the schools, what makes these schools unique, and how do they each contribute to establishing a school district that already has such a fine reputation.  She will do this before she would actually set goals in place for what she wants to do.
I wanted to know if Dr. Reusche had any advice for her successor. She said take time to get to know the community and respect the fact that there are times when the schools need to and should be different. There are certainly times when things need to be consistent because we are all part of a system. At the same time, there is a uniqueness to each school because the people who inhabit the buildings create the culture and the climate.
For Dr. Reusche’s departing message to the students and staff of
Cherry Hill Schools, she said the following: “Continue to follow your passion, continue to follow your dreams, and do not be afraid to dream big. Thinking outside of the box enables you to dream big!”