State stands firm on closing Rogers
SHERBURNE – After an 11th-hour meeting and despite the hopes of many, Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne will indeed close at the end of the year.
The non-profit support group Friends of Rogers met with senior state Department of Environmental Conservation staff on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s planned closure of the Rogers Center.
“At this time, DEC’s decision to lay off the Center’s staff appears final and irreversible,” said Laurie Trotta, president of Friends of Rogers.
However, the Friends have secured a commitment from the agency to allow continued use of the buildings for public programs by the Friends of Rogers. “We are exploring options for continuing the good work of the Rogers Center staff through our organization, and are looking for community partners and volunteers to assist us,” said Trotta.
Established in 1909, Rogers Environmental Center serves about 70,000 visitors a year; many are part of school groups that make regular educational field trips to the facility. The center director and four staff members are part of the governor’s planned 900 statewide layoffs scheduled to take effect on Dec. 31. A record turnout at the Friends’ Winter Living Celebration this past Sunday and a Facebook-mounted letter-writing campaign had hoped to stave off the center’s closure.
“Complete closure and loss of the center is simply untenable,” Trotta said. The Friends remain hopeful that the new administration in Albany in the coming year will take a fresh look at the decision to close Rogers, but believe that in the interim the center needs to continue offering some level of programming to the public and schools that have come to depend on its resources, she said.
The non-profit support group Friends of Rogers met with senior state Department of Environmental Conservation staff on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s planned closure of the Rogers Center.
“At this time, DEC’s decision to lay off the Center’s staff appears final and irreversible,” said Laurie Trotta, president of Friends of Rogers.
However, the Friends have secured a commitment from the agency to allow continued use of the buildings for public programs by the Friends of Rogers. “We are exploring options for continuing the good work of the Rogers Center staff through our organization, and are looking for community partners and volunteers to assist us,” said Trotta.
Established in 1909, Rogers Environmental Center serves about 70,000 visitors a year; many are part of school groups that make regular educational field trips to the facility. The center director and four staff members are part of the governor’s planned 900 statewide layoffs scheduled to take effect on Dec. 31. A record turnout at the Friends’ Winter Living Celebration this past Sunday and a Facebook-mounted letter-writing campaign had hoped to stave off the center’s closure.
“Complete closure and loss of the center is simply untenable,” Trotta said. The Friends remain hopeful that the new administration in Albany in the coming year will take a fresh look at the decision to close Rogers, but believe that in the interim the center needs to continue offering some level of programming to the public and schools that have come to depend on its resources, she said.
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