Bright Beginnings Preschool closes after 43 years

After more than four decades in Yorktown, Bright Beginnings preschool has closed.

The closure took effect Sept. 1, leaving families to find new schools for their children and staff members and teachers facing the loss of a longtime preschool.

The preschool was founded by Mara Ziedens, Evelyn Mocbeichel, a guest contributor to Halston Media, and the late Elissa Noble in 1983. Director Vera Correa purchased the school in 2015. Over the years, the school, which served children from 18 months through first grade, operated centers in Amawalk, Granite Springs and Yorktown Heights. The Yorktown Heights location operated out of rented space at what is now the Albert A. Capellini Community & Cultural Center. The school operated on a corporate calendar to support needs of working parents.

Matt Lauria, a Yorktown resident and Bright Beginnings parent, appeared before the Town Board on Sept. 1 to raise concerns about the preschool’s closure.

Lauria’s mother, Debra, who worked at the school for more than 18 years, is now without a job, while Lauria had to quickly find a new school for his 3-year-old son.

Lauria said the school had been what he called a “second home” for his mother. He added that this summer, “her dream came true” when her grandson began attending Bright Beginnings.

“Today that dream came to a crashing halt,” he told the board.

Lauria said the school closed after it and the town were unable to reach an agreement on a lease.

“There are two sides to every story, and a business has every right to end its lease on its own terms. That does not appear to be what happened here,” he said. “My concern is how a decades-old school in a town-owned building closed with little knowledge or insight from this Town Board.”

Lauria’s concerns centered on the timing of the lease discussions, whether town officials knew the school was at risk of closing, why the school was not given anything in writing and whether a Town Board member or the supervisor should have been involved in the negotiations.

In a Sept. 1 Facebook post on the school’s page, Correa announced the closure and said the school planned to continue in a different capacity with a “small sensory facility” in Dutchess County “to serve our children with special needs.”

Correa thanked the school’s past and present leaders and teachers, as well as the families who had entrusted their children to Bright Beginnings over the years.

Correa described Bright Beginnings as more than a school, writing that it had spent four decades emphasizing respect for people and the environment, along with its academic curriculum. She also highlighted an atmosphere that encouraged social responsibility and understanding and respect for differences.

The situation unfolded quickly, and during the meeting, Town Board members acknowledged that it may not have been handled as well as it could have been.

Supervisor Ed Lachterman told Yorktown News that the school was “offering a valuable service in child care,” adding that “it’s going to have to be made up somewhere for the people in the town.”

The decision to close was made between the Aug. 11 Town Board meeting and the Sept. 1 meeting.

“This board says it supports small business, and this situation, it appears that this is not the case,” Lauria said. “The staff, students and community, as a whole of Bright Beginnings deserves much better.”