By CRAIG FREILICH
North Country Now

POTSDAM – The Town Council is asking SUNY Potsdam to reinstate the programs in the college’s Center for Lifelong Education and Recreation (CLEAR).

At its meeting Tuesday, FEB. 19, the board approved sending a letter to SUNY Potsdam President Kristin Esterberg expressing regret at losing the CLEAR program, which included “activities and classes that appeal to all ages and to the varied interests of the community” and which “allowed members of the community to offer their skills to each other.”

“The level of success the program had was because of SUNY Potsdam’s commitment and expertise in running all aspects of the program with a vision of its importance to the community,” the letter said.

The college sent out notice in August to participants in CLEAR non-credit recreational programs to explain that CLEAR “will no longer be offering recreational programs at the College, due to budget constraints and the need to dedicate staff to other campus priorities.”

“However, SUNY Potsdam will continue to work with the community in many other ways, through both existing and new programs, in support of the educational and professional needs of the region. Serving our community will always remain a key priority and is a critical component of the mission of the College,” wrote the college’s Executive Director of Graduate And Continuing Education, Joshua LaFave.

“The CLEAR programming offered by SUNY Potsdam to the greater community was incredibly important to the health of the community, and we, the Potsdam Town Board and the Supervisor of the Town of Potsdam, formally ask that SUNY Potsdam reinstates the programs” said the letter to the college that the town board approved.

“Although CLEAR as an entity has dissolved here at SUNY Potsdam, there are a number of programs and initiatives that it was involved with that have continued to function,” wrote the college’s Assistant Vice President for Communications Mindy Thompson in an email.

Among those programs are swim programs, summer camps such as Crane Youth Music (CYM), North Country Science and Technology Entry Program (NCSTEP) and Bears Athletics summer camps. “Conversations are still ongoing about continuing the Creative Arts Summer Camp, although these decisions are not related to the CLEAR dissolution,” she said.

She also noted that the annual Local Government Conference, Courts Conference and Journey Into Literacy Conference will all continue.

And the St. Lawrence Leadership Institute will continue, in partnership with the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce.

“The College will continue to support SOAR and its lifelong learning programs,” Thompson said, referring to the popular program which for years has offered a wide array of classes, workshops, lectures and other programs to the community.

CLEAR also coordinated facility rentals, “third-party agreements for use of campus spaces (which) will now be overseen by Facilities, and we are improving these systems to better allow for increased access by community groups,” Thompson said.

For its part, the board offered to help with some aspects of programs, such as setting up registrations through the Potsdam Public Library.

“Community members have offered to help subsidize the cost of some of the classes to increase accessibility for low income community members if the registration prices need to rise due to increased costs,” the town letter says.

“CLEAR is a valuable community asset. We ask that SUNY Potsdam reopen the programs. We are happy to help its reopening by facilitating community connections, encouraging community fundraising efforts, and consulting with SUNY administration,” the letter from the board concludes.