On Friday, October 3, Mrs. Leslie Walker assumed the role of Cherry Hill East’s Interim Principal, a decision finalized the day before by the Cherry Hill Board of Education. Under the recommendation of Cherry Hill Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kwame Morton, Walker cements a place in East history as its first female lead principal.

Walker’s appointment as East’s Interim principal was first announced via East’s rebranded weekly newsletter, the East Insider, on Friday, Oct. 11. However, the recruitment process for Walker began a month before, on Sept. 10, having been reached out to by Dr. Morton a day after the preceding East principal, Mr. Daniel Finkle, tendered his resignation. With Finkle’s premature leave earlier this month, Walker’s introduction to East is now an early step forward in the adjustment period that East is undergoing with leadership.

While Walker does not plan to implement significant changes to the school due to the limited duration of her term, Walker intends to introduce more modest adjustments aimed at streamlining the school’s operations. Among these are efforts in optimizing communication efficiency—accomplished by reducing the number of emails that teachers, students, and parents receive—and, if proven feasible after further inspection, reducing the number of students eating at lunch at a given time. Overall, Walker hopes to provide a year of stability to the school during this time of transition.

Professionally, Walker possesses extensive teaching experience in the Cherry Hill area. As a former 6th-grade teacher at Horace Mann Elementary School, Henry C. Beck Middle School Principal, and temporary Assistant Principal at the Camden County Technical Schools, Walker, who was known as Mrs. Koller there, worked with several of the staff she now oversees at East today. Personally, Walker was previously a Cherry Hill resident for 25 years and is a mother to three Cherry Hill East alumni.

While the matter of East’s next permanent principal is a question yet to be answered, Walker’s introduction as Interim principal signals a period of steady leadership for East.

Despite being new to the school as an administrator, Walker is a lifelong member of the Cherry Hill community. As a former resident of 25 years, she is a mother of three children, all of whom grew up in the district and graduated from East. Additionally, Walker began her career in Cherry Hill before pursuing administrative roles out of district.

As an involved PTA mom at Bret Harte Elementary School, Walker became involved in the School-Age Child Care (SACC) program and founded the Student Enrichment Program (STEP), before-school and after-school programs that provide safe, nurturing, and affordable care to students.

She led this program at Bret Harte, her children’s elementary school, and when the district created a district-wide position to oversee SACC and STEP, she applied and got the position.

Walker began her teaching career as a sixth-grade teacher at Horace Man Elementary School in 1998. She relocated to Henry C. Beck Middle School in 1999, the year that the district moved sixth grade to the middle schools. She taught at Beck for four years before becoming an Assistant Principal, a position she held for three years. She then applied for a principalship and earned a position at Eisenhower Middle School in Berlin Township, where she stayed for seven years. Walker later served as the Superintendent in the Mount Ephraim school district for six years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the pandemic, Walker chose to retire. She spent the following three years working at the Camden County Technical Schools (CCTS), assisting in teaching and administrative roles when various staff members were out.

After leaving CCTS, Walker reached out to Dr. Neil Burti, Director of Secondary Education, offering to support Cherry Hill and the public schools administration in any way possible, whenever needed.

Now, as the Interim principal at East, Walker is honored to be back in the district that she and her family call home.

Eastside interviewed Mrs. Walker to gain perspective into her goals and ideas for East as she enters her position as the Interim Principal. Here’s what she said:

Q: What feature or aspect of the school do you think is most important for success, and how do you plan to maintain or promote that?

A: Relationships, 100%. It may sound cliché, but it’s truly the foundation of a successful school. I’ve always prioritized connecting personally with students and staff — sharing stories, listening, and being approachable.
As a teacher, I made sure my students knew I cared about them as people. As a principal, I try to bring that same spirit to teachers, letting them know it’s okay to take risks, to ask for help, and to make mistakes. When people feel safe and supported, they can grow. That’s when schools thrive.

Q: How do you plan to ensure that everyone feels comfortable in school and that everyone feels heard and valued?

A: By being present, approachable, and empathetic. I want students to see me, talk to me, and feel like their principal genuinely knows and cares about them. For teachers, I want them to know they can come to me without fear, whether it’s about a challenge in the classroom or a new idea. Open communication builds trust, and trust builds comfort.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

A: My biggest challenge is keeping my “idea person” side in check. I love building systems, structures, and creative solutions, but in this interim role, my job isn’t to reinvent things. It’s to maintain stability and positivity during the transition.

I’m here to keep morale high, ensure things run smoothly, and leave the school in the best possible place for the next principal. That can be tough for someone who naturally likes to take on big projects, but it’s an important responsibility, especially with so much change this year.

Q: What are some changes you want to implement for the remainder of the school year as Interim principal?

A: I’m very good with technology, and I’m looking at some of the systems that we have in place for communication. I want to try to streamline them and cut down on the number of emails that teachers get, and…make it easier on teachers, secretaries, and parents and kids so that the communication is shorter. That’s a short-term goal.

I’m looking at the lunch [too, and] I love the concept behind it — to have a lunch and then other activities, and then flip-flop. I think that’s a great concept, but I also think it’s a lot of kids eating at one time. I’m not here long enough to make a judgment on that, so I’d like to review the lunches to see if I can suggest ways to accommodate fewer kids at the same time while still maintaining the concept of being able to participate in those activities.

Q: What is it like working with teachers who once taught your own children?

A: I was beyond excited. I love this school. My three children graduated from here, one in 2004, one in 2007, and one in 2010. They went all the way from Bret Harte kindergarten to Beck, to East, and I just have a very soft spot in my heart for Cherry Hill and this school.

Q: How does it feel to be the first female principal East has ever seen?

A: At first, I didn’t realize it! When I started, I had a hunch and went through all the old yearbooks to check. Then, a longtime teacher who runs the Athletic Hall of Fame confirmed it: I really am the first. At first it felt kind of funny, but now it’s incredibly meaningful.

This will likely be my last job before retiring, so to end my career where it began — in Cherry Hill — and to be the first female principal at East is something I’m deeply proud of. It’s a full-circle moment for me and my family.

Q: What do you hope the East community will remember most about your time as interim principal?

A: I hope they’ll remember that I was East’s first female principal, and that I cared deeply about keeping the school calm and connected during a time of transition. More than anything, I want people to remember me as someone who respected the East community and left it just a little better than I found it.