Prospect Park Education Programs Cut

Thanks to budget cuts, Prospect Park has announced that school programs at the Lefferts Historic House and the Audubon Center will be completely suspended in the coming school year. Brenda presents a good look at what these programs provide on A Year in the Park:

My passion for this piece of the park's mission stems from years of similar work as a volunteer at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Like the Audubon guide at left, I've seen humbling magic take place between city kids and nature. Once, I lifted a turtle out of the pond and told a breathless semi-circle of middle-schoolers that they could touch it gently with one finger. Each one touched it, some reluctantly, most with a reverence befitting the climax of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." On their own, without a structured program, they would have sat on a bench and whined for lunch. Or never come at all...

Prospect Park Alliance spokesman Eugene Patron told the that the suspension may be temporary, and that access to the buildings will still be available for schools that want to visit. Additionally, the weekend, BASE high school, and Heart of Brooklyn BCAP summer programs will not be affected. But that's a small consolation when you consider that more than 15,000 students participated in school programs at Lefferts House and the Audubon Center in 2010.