Bancroft School

The historic Bancroft school property in Haddonfield will be purchased by the school district and converted into a park, athletic fields, and a site for the expansion of the adjacent Haddonfield Memorial High School, under the terms of a deal announced by officials today. The fate of the 19-acre property, set in Haddonfield's historic district, has been an issue since 2005 when Bancroft, which serves developmentally disabled students, announced its intention to move. Controversy arose two years ago when borough commissioners floated the idea of turning the school into a senior housing development, drawing protests from the town's affluent residents who demanded that the land be preserved as a park.

Haddonfield voters narrowly rejected the purchase of the 19.2-acre Bancroft School in a referendum Tuesday . The "no" vote sends an eight-year debate about the future of the property, which is adjacent to Haddonfield High School, back to square one. The Haddonfield Board of Education had asked voters to approve a $12.5 million bond for the purchase. If the bond had been approved, the land was to have been used for athletic fields, recreation, parking, open space, and educational facilities.

The Bancroft School has sought since 2005 to sell its Haddonfield campus, with plans to buy land elsewhere and build a facility more suited to its needs. Now, eight years and several failed sale attempts later, with borough voters Tuesday rejecting a $12.5 million referendum to purchase the property, Bancroft officials say they will instead move quickly to renovate the campus. "We need to begin modernizing our facility," Toni Pergolin, Bancroft's president and chief executive officer, said after the vote.

Yard signs are sprouting and the campaign is heating up as Haddonfield residents approach a Jan. 22 vote on a $12.5 million school district bond to purchase the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property. A "yes" vote would mean the Bancroft land, adjacent to the high school, would eventually become home to a new school athletic field, recreation areas, parking, open space, and educational facilities. Bancroft now uses the campus to educate students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

About 100 residents attended last night's planning board meeting to oppose a plan that they contend would make it much easier for the Bancroft School to obtain permission for future development. The proposal is contained in a draft of the borough's new master plan. It calls on the school, which educates special-needs children, to develop a master plan of its own. If that is done, Bancroft would go to the planning board for approval of any changes to the school. Currently, it must go to the zoning board.

  In upscale Haddonfield, a town with a disproportionate number of lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, a massage therapist and political novice who only recently moved back to the borough might seem an unlikely leader for the movement that last week defeated the proposed purchase of the Bancroft School. But Brian Kelly, 57, had a knack for tapping into residents' psyche. The outcome surprised school and borough officials, who had expected to win over a majority of voters.

Karen Stone is grateful. That sentiment is directed to the educators who helped her mentally retarded son become a self-reliant and very confident young man. And now, she wants to say "thank you" to Bancroft School in Haddonfield. Stone, a teacher at Lenape High School, is asking her students to play basketball to raise funds for Bancroft students. On Friday, the high school's student council will sponsor a basketball game featuring Lenape students against a Special Olympics team from Bancroft.

Dan Whalen had been a Boy Scout since he was 5 years old. For him, it was only natural to go the distance and seek the coveted Eagle Scout badge. And last summer, when it came time to choose his project, he looked close to home. The Bancroft School - just down the street from his house - was a familiar part of Whalen's life. He passed it every day, and often saw children playing on the lawn. One day, in a burst of inspiration, he knew what his project would be. Now, thanks to Whalen, 17, the school for developmentally disabled children and young adults has a collection of more than 1,000 books, as well as a computer database to keep track of them.

Yard signs are sprouting and the campaign is heating up as Haddonfield residents approach a Jan. 22 vote on a $12.5 million school district bond to purchase the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property. A "yes" vote would mean the Bancroft land, adjacent to the high school, would eventually become home to a new school athletic field, recreation areas, parking, open space, and educational facilities. Bancroft now uses the campus to educate students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

  In upscale Haddonfield, a town with a disproportionate number of lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, a massage therapist and political novice who only recently moved back to the borough might seem an unlikely leader for the movement that last week defeated the proposed purchase of the Bancroft School. But Brian Kelly, 57, had a knack for tapping into residents' psyche. The outcome surprised school and borough officials, who had expected to win over a majority of voters.

The Bancroft School has sought since 2005 to sell its Haddonfield campus, with plans to buy land elsewhere and build a facility more suited to its needs. Now, eight years and several failed sale attempts later, with borough voters Tuesday rejecting a $12.5 million referendum to purchase the property, Bancroft officials say they will instead move quickly to renovate the campus. "We need to begin modernizing our facility," Toni Pergolin, Bancroft's president and chief executive officer, said after the vote.

Haddonfield voters narrowly rejected the purchase of the 19.2-acre Bancroft school site in a referendum Tuesday. The vote sends an eight-year debate about the future of the property, adjacent to Haddonfield Memorial High School, back to square one. The Haddonfield school board had asked voters to approve a $12.5 million bond for the purchase. The land would have been used for athletic fields, recreation, parking, open space, and educational facilities. An unofficial count showed the question going down to defeat by 2,387 to 2,136 vote, or 53 percent to 47 percent.

Haddonfield voters narrowly rejected the purchase of the 19.2-acre Bancroft School in a referendum Tuesday . The "no" vote sends an eight-year debate about the future of the property, which is adjacent to Haddonfield High School, back to square one. The Haddonfield Board of Education had asked voters to approve a $12.5 million bond for the purchase. If the bond had been approved, the land was to have been used for athletic fields, recreation, parking, open space, and educational facilities.

Yard signs are sprouting and the campaign is heating up as Haddonfield residents approach a Jan. 22 vote on a $12.5 million school district bond to purchase the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property. A "yes" vote would mean the Bancroft land, adjacent to the high school, would eventually become home to a new school athletic field, recreation areas, parking, open space, and educational facilities. Bancroft now uses the campus to educate students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

Yard signs are sprouting and the campaign is heating up as Haddonfield residents approach a Jan. 22 vote on a $12.5 million school district bond to purchase the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property. A "yes" vote would mean the Bancroft land, adjacent to the high school, would eventually become home to a new school athletic field, recreation areas, parking, open space, and educational facilities. Bancroft now uses the campus to educate students with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

After more than a decade of debate over its fate, the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property in Haddonfield has reached a key crossroads. On Jan. 22, residents will vote on whether to approve a $12.5 million bond enabling the Haddonfield School District to purchase the site. A yes vote means the land would be used for a school athletic field, recreation, parking, open space, and future educational needs. A few affordable housing units might go up. Bancroft would relocate within six years.

The Haddonfield school board has reached an informal agreement to ask voters for $12.5 million in bonds to buy the 19.2-acre Bancroft School property on Kings Highway East. At a meeting Tuesday night, the board members worked out the details of a January referendum on the purchase of the land next to Haddonfield Memorial High School. The dollar figure and a description of what the money would pay for will be set at a Dec. 13 board meeting. The public will get its say on Jan. 22. If the question fails, the district will not buy the property and discussion will begin anew about its future use. The purchase price for the property, now owned and used by Bancroft - which educates students with developmental disabilities and brain injuries - is $12.2 million.

Over the last half-dozen years, since the nearly 130-year-old Bancroft school said it wanted to leave Haddonfield, its extensive grounds have been eyed hungrily by developers, have been latched onto by open-space advocates, and have prompted arguments in living rooms across the affluent suburb. On Tuesday, the fate of the 19-acre plot, amid Victorian homes on Haddonfield's historic Kings Highway, took a decisive turn when borough officials announced plans to buy the land, demolish the school, and convert the space into a park, athletic fields, and a site for the expansion of the adjacent Haddonfield Memorial High School.