Bancroft works ground for new school
CHERRY HILL - After more than a century educating children with special needs in a hodgepodge of buildings in Haddonfield, Bancroft showed off the first steel columns of its new 165,000-square-foot school in Mount Laurel during an event at the site Tuesday.
Set on 80 acres of fields and woods on Walton Drive, The Bancroft Campus at Mount Laurel is slated to open January 2018, with enough classroom space for 264 students and ample room for future growth. The new school is designed for children up to age 21 and will include residential space for 74 students, as well as community services.
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Bancroft CEO Toni Pergolin said the $75 million construction project is the nonprofit's biggest investment "by far" since she joined it a dozen years ago.
"We need more room," said Pergolin, during an interview at Bancroft's administrative headquarters. "The need for our services is growing and growing, and they're essential."
Plans began six years ago, as Bancroft considered the need for more space and modern facilities. Renovating the existing school campus was no longer an option. Students and staff had to walk between buildings and across a side street in all kinds of weather. There weren't enough parking spaces for staff and visitors and nowhere for families to meet with their children.
"We'd done as much as we could," Pergolin said. "When you can provide a facility and an environment that's made for the people that we serve, the opportunities for them to learn and grow is huge."
Designed around the needs of students and staff, the modern campus will include a gymnasium and activity pool, playgrounds for different ages, trails and sensory gardens. Bancroft leaders met with staff, families and organizations like Autism Speaks to help plan the new school. The design will be sensitive to students with sensory needs, featuring wider hallways and natural lighting.
With an eye on preparing the nonprofit for its investment, Pergolin worked on its balance sheet, doubling revenue from $75 million to $150 million, raising its net assets to almost $50 million and boosting its borrowing ability, "all knowing that this was coming."
A five-year capital campaign is more than halfway toward its $12 million goal, raised mostly through individual donors. The sale of its Haddonfield property was also a critical piece of the funding puzzle.
The nonprofit's size and diverse services have insulated it from recent changes in the way New Jersey pays for services for people with disabilities, Pergolin added. It serves 1,700 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, both children and adults, at 16 facilities.
"We don't just depend on one funding source," she noted, ticking through payers, including 120 school districts, insurance companies, and several states.
In answer to an increased demand from the community, the campus will offer respite services after school and on weekends, said Dennis Morgan, Bancroft's senior vice president of education, adult day and employment services.
The campus will also offer communication services and training for families and educators. A medical suite with separate spaces for sick and well children will be available around the clock. A separate space will be set aside for employee training and students' vocational programs. There will be separate spaces for dining and recreation.
"That's going to really help us cater to the needs of our students in ways we currently have to work around," Morgan said. "We should see behaviors start to decline as a result of these intentional features."
The Mount Laurel campus will serve more than just its students, but will also become a regional destination for the autism community, Pergolin said. She expects it will offer resources for families, workshops, recreational and socialization opportunities, summer camps and Special Olympics games.
About 1 in 41 children are diagnosed with autism in New Jersey.
""It's going to be something bigger and better than anyone can imagine, not only for the people we serve, but also for the staff we want to work here, for the families and for the community," Pergolin said.
"It's not just a new school."
Kim Mulford: (856) 486-2448; kmulford@gannettnj.com