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October 28, 2009

Teacher Resource Center to remain open

By STEPHEN BARTLETT

PLATTSBURGH — The North Country Teacher Resource Center is staying open after a lack of funds threatened to shut it down.

Lobbying by area educators and lawmakers resulted in a last-minute infusion of money from the New York State Department of Budget, which had previously been holding the money, forcing the center to prepare for closure Friday.

"The funds will be released shortly," Kathleen Fessette, assistant director of the North Country Teacher Resource Center, said Wednesday morning.

The center offers the region professional development for educators, mentor programs, classroom supplies, enrichment activities and workshops.

REVERSING GEARS
The Teacher Center continues to offer all its resources as it remains open, and events and workshops that were canceled due to the impending closure will be rescheduled in the days ahead.

"We will work hard to make sure everything is back up and running, as it was in the past," Fessette said.

The North Country Teacher Resource Center nearly closed earlier this year when funding for centers statewide was not included in Gov. David Paterson's executive budget.

Then, the federal stimulus package funded teacher centers for 2009-10.

But the funds have been held up at the Department of Budget, and it didn't appear they would be released soon enough to prevent the North Country Teacher Resource Center from closing Friday.

As a result, workshops were canceled, classroom supplies returned, and several individuals learned they would be losing their jobs.

The Teacher Center serves 18 public-school districts, private educational institutions, Plattsburgh State and Clinton Community and North Country Community colleges. It also partners with an array of regional organizations and serves nearly 2,000 educators.

COMPROMISE
"We knew the money was sitting in the New York State Department of Budget," Fessette said. "It was just a matter of getting someone to release it."

Champlain Valley Educational Services Superintendent Craig King, Regent James Dawson and Assemblywoman Janet Duprey (R-Peru) worked independently to do just that.

King explained that funding for teacher centers used to come through the state, but this year was part of the Economic Recovery Act.

The federal government required that program income be subtracted from the grant. The State Education Department and Department of Budget planned to negotiate the difference with the federal government, but that process held up funding.

"We recommended that while they are negotiating they formulate a mechanism where they subtract program income and have the rest of the grant money flow until they come to terms," King said.

"They did that, and we are certainly happy it worked out this way."

'DELIGHTED'
Duprey said that over the weekend she was approached by teachers from several area districts who testified to the importance of the Teacher Center to them, their classroom and their students.

"The pieces all fell in place, and I am absolutely delighted," she said. "It shows the grass-roots North Country attitude of let's get things done."

Fessette and her colleagues at the center were thrilled to learn they would remain open and are busy rescheduling canceled programs.

"We didn't know if anyone was going to be here, so at this point we suspended everything," she said. "The important thing is for students at SUNY Plattsburgh all the resources will be available to them as they scramble to get final projects done.

"It is great to know how important you are to the community, and we just want to issue a very big thank-you."

E-mail Stephen Bartlett at: sbartlett@pressrepublican.com

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