Keuka Lake School will move from Lake Street

PENN YAN—Senior Director of day Programs at the Arc of Yates Deborah Fabris-Coon said the Keuka Lake School, currently located at 270 Lake St. in Penn Yan, will be moving into space at Penn Yan elementary school. The move will take place in two stages, with the first two classes moving in September and the last two classes moving in January of 2014. Fabris-Coon said this will allow the students to become more integrated in the elementary building before they enter kindergarten and will help expand the partnership between the Keuka Lake School and the Penn Yan Central School District.
“What we are going to do is in September we are going to have two of our Keuka Lake School classrooms moving into the elementary school,” Fabris-Coon said. “Those are what we call our integrated classrooms, which will be preschool children with disabilities and universal prekindergarten children. In January, we will be having our other two classrooms also moving over there.”
Fabris-Coon said she did not have specific dates for the moves yet, and with any plan there is always snags and roadblocks to work out. She said the move will offer the school more space to work with as well as give the students more learning resources like a library and cafeteria.
“Penn Yan School District has been our partner for years with preschool children,” Fabris-Coon said. “It was a natural partnership. It provides so many opportunities for our students. They are going to be in a public school building. They are going to be fully integrated into the school, so there are opportunities there that they can’t get them here. It’s the opportunity to be in a bigger facility, to learn how to navigate a cafeteria before they go to kindergarten. It’s a perfect opportunity for us to expand our partnership with the school. Our children will benefit so immensely from that.”
Fabris-Coon said the new space should also help accommodate the preschool as they continue to grow. She said right now the Keuka Lake School only has four classrooms along with therapists and clinicians who support the children.
“You always have to think about business in terms of financial viability [...] but when talking about children, the very first considerations are going to be what is best for the children in maximizing and supporting their learning,” Fabris-Coon said.