Former teacher, coach and athlete Ed Holcroft has been added to the Kennett School District’s exclusive society known as “Legends.”

A plaque at the high school’s Legacy Fields on Birch Street in Kennett Square bearing his name will be added to those of athlete Robert Morse, school board member Shirley Annand and community activist Leon Spencer. 

The recently initiated Legends tradition includes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the district.

Kennett School District communications specialist Nikki Laws made the announcement of Holcroft’s honoring at the Nov. 14 board meeting, and the news was enthusiastically received by the members.

Holcroft, who died in 2020, was best known for his success and dedication to soccer.

A graduate of West Chester State College and later a master’s degree holder from Temple University, he joined the faculty at Kennett in 1959 and remained there for 37 years. He taught physical education and coached many soccer championships for the school. He also served as assistant athletic director and was lauded regionally for his dedication and successes.

In that connection, he was honored as a member of the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Soccer Coaches Hall of Fame.

Holcroft also held the position of Kennett Community Recreation Director for 15 years until he retired that position and began the Kennett Soccer Camp as well, where he spent several years bringing soccer to children of the southern Chester County region.

New school constructions

CFO Mark Tracy reported that diagrams of the planned replacement Greenwood and New Garden elementary schools are available for public viewing on the school district’s website. They can be found in the agenda list of the most recent board meeting under the “Mr. Tracy PlanCon A report.”

PlanCon has been a program through the Pennsylvania Department of Education that reimburses school districts engaged in building projects. It requires submission of many lengthy forms revealing information and finances about anticipated construction and student population.

According to the PlanCon website, it has in past years reimbursed school districts $4,700 per elementary student of projected capacity per school. The projected enrollment capacity for each of the new schools is 750 or a total for the two of 1,500.

Tracy’s filled out applications are online, and the board approved them. Whether the applications will yield cash is in question.

The state has put a hold on the program and is not accepting applications or issuing the reimbursements currently, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Education website.

The estimated construction cost of the coming projects has been announced at about $100 million. Tracy said if the program were operating, the PlanCon reimbursements would have amounted to between 4 and 6 percent of the total cost.

Student praised for project

In other news, the board lauded Kennett High School Senior Mark Wilson, who was one of 120 students selected to participate in the U.S. Department of State’s Youth Ambassador Program. He traveled to Ecuador for two weeks, where he honed his own leadership skills and fostered mutual understanding.

He has now organized a support group in town called “Juntos,” which means “together” in Spanish. Laws announced Wilson has said his goal is to create a safe space for language learning.

Wilson is an aspiring foreign service officer, and Wilson speaks some of five languages Spanish, French, Portuguese and Mandarin in addition to his native English.