BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

Future plans: both Touhey's contract with the Board of Education and the
state grant to hire a custodian run out in 1976. What will happen to the
program if none of the contracts are renewed -remains open.
89. Although the old building seems to be well liked by its new clientele,
Touhey would rather operate a small, purpose-built community center annex
to the new school. There are too many administrative difficulties in
running parallel community programs in the distant new and old schools with
only one co-ordinator. By renting out the old building to interested
commercial and governmental groups, some funds would be available to pay
for a community center near the new school. Thus, the facility aspect
remains an unresolved problem in this case, due to the location of the new
facility and the lack of funds to re-build certain parts or add others.
Mount Holly, New Jersey
90. Mount Holly, the county seat of Burlington County and central city of
the area, has a beautifully preserved colonial core which is listed in the
national register for historic preservation. Since there is no industry
for three square miles, its 13 000 residents, mostly lower middle and
middle-class, pay the highest property taxes in the state of New Jersey.
Minorities account for 16% of the population. Mount Holly features a .
council manager form of government, in which five elected representatives
hire a manager who is responsible for the day to day operations of the
municipal government. It is an aging community with a steadily declining
school population. In the grades K-8 (from Kindergarten to the 8th year
inclusive) - not counting high school pupils - the number of pupils
dropped from 2 154 in 1965 to 1 688 in 1975.
91. The old high school which was replaced by a new facility first served
as an elementary school but then was abandoned because it did not comply
with fire regulations and "looked old". As in the Wharton case, a citizen
group, the Junior Women's League of Mount Holly, was instrumental in
creating community interest for acquiring the "old school". They wanted
to use the empty school as a teenage center. The reason was that the
township in 1970 had established an anti-loitering ordinance and there
was no place for teenagers to go. In contrast to Wharton, the municipal
government of Mount Holly acquired the building from the Board of Education,
a separately elected public agency, for $1. They also established a
Department of Parks and Recreation and hired the town's first full time
professional, Donald Plucinski, as Department Director. Part of his
responsibility was to work with local civic organisations and to utilise
the old school. This was not an easy task. Built in 1912 as a model high
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