The Moorestown Friends School Committee has approved a resolution to name the school’s new classroom building on the Greenleaf property for Neil Hartman, who taught at the school for 33 years.
The building, expected to open to students in April, will be known as Hartman Hall. Hartman is best known as a math teacher, but contributed in countless other areas to the school community inside and outside the classroom.
“I was amazed. I never dreamed of such a thing,” said Hartman, who lives at Medford Leas with his wife, Marian. “I am somewhat embarrassed by all the publicity I am getting.”
He was notified during a recent visit from Head of School Larry Van Meter and school committee chair Naoji Moriuchi.
Commented Van Meter, a member of the MFS Class of 1968: “Neil Hartman was one of the larger-than-life teachers who made MFS a very special place in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s. He had a huge influence on me and on an entire generation of Moorestown Friends students. Naming the new classroom building for Hartman is a fitting way to honor his memorable achievements and contributions as a teacher, coach and person.”
Hartman Hall will house eight math classrooms, a choral-music suite, a faculty workroom and a student lounge. The middle and upper school math department faculty will be moving to the new facility in April.
Hartman Hall will also contain a new technology lab, conference room, office space and student lockers. Students will make the estimated one-and-a-half minute walk between Hartman Hall and the main MFS campus on a paved trail originating just outside the tennis courts near the field house.
The official dedication of Hartman Hall will take place on the afternoon of Friday, May 4, to kick off alumni weekend.
