After spending more than 30 years in the Cherry Hill school district – as both a student and administrator – Superintendent Dr. Joseph Meloche announced earlier this month that he will take a job as superintendent of the Rose Tree Media School District in Pennsylvania.
Meloche began as a student at Kingston Elementary and went through the district at Brainerd (now Carusi) Middle School and Cherry Hill West.
“When I was a student, I knew I wanted to be a teacher,” he recalled. “I wanted to teach history, I wanted the opportunity to teach English. When I graduated from West in ’89 and I went off to college, it was with the full intention of being a teacher.”
Meloche did so for six years in Willingboro and Maple Shade before realizing he wanted to have a broader impact. That brought him back to Cherry Hill in 2003 as principal of Kingston. Within 10 years, he also spent time as principal of Carusi, then West, before starting a new chapter as the director of Curriculum and Instruction in 2013.
A year later, Meloche became assistant superintendent for pre-K to 12 and took the top job in 2015.
As superintendent, Meloche worked with the 19 principals of district schools and the central office team, and joined the newly elected board of education in establishing, overseeing and implementing policy, as well as creating the district’s vision and mission.
Meloche was also the district’s liaison to local government and worked with community members and organizations to keep parents and staff updated on events and issues.
“It truly is a job that’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Meloche acknowledged. “There is no turning off the responsibilities that come with the position. It doesn’t matter if that means one of the alarms is going off at the schools at 2:30 in the morning, or if there’s an incident that takes place on a Saturday, Sunday, July, September, or October.
“It is truly an around-the-clock, year-round job.”
As superintendent, Meloche has overseen a $363-million bond referendum for 2022 – the first one failed in 2018 – and helped develop and implement full-day kindergarten in 2019.
He has also been an active advocate of student voices and has worked with Public Information Officer Barbara Wilson to change and improve the way the district shares information with the community.
The top three things Meloche is proudest of from his time in the district are establishing a nurturing relationship with students and families, hiring, and efforts to make the district more inclusive and more reflective of its diversity.
“I’m very proud of the administrative team, the instructional team, the support team, custodial team, of the buildings and grounds – all these people, all these 1,700-plus people who work in the district, play a vital role,” Meloche noted. “ … I’m incredibly proud of the process we used and also the people who are here.”
