A new program in Hurleyville is taking the reins of education by making the arts the focal point of the school day.

Run by the Center for Discovery, the Discovery School of the Arts opened July 8th at the Hurleyville Performing Arts Center building. Currently, the program serves 18 adolescents and young adults from the community with complex medical and developmental needs, including autism.

Instead of treating the arts as a recreational activity, the school incorporates drama, music, visual art, dance and movement into the students’ daily schedules.

“We are following an arts-based curriculum,” Assistant Chief of Education at the Discovery School of the Arts Conio Loretto told the Democrat during a tour of the school. “The students are engaged in art experiences throughout the school day, and that’s really for them to develop their academic skills, but also just develop themselves personally.”

The school is split into several studio spaces, including music, drama, art, dance and movement, as well as a learning lab that allows students to work on their academic skills.

The students transfer from one creative space to another as the school day moves along, allowing academic lessons to be woven into creative activities. For example, the learning lab has students working on reading skills through drama and plays, while creative writing and science experiments are also integrated into those lessons.

As with any school, the arts give students the chance to communicate and connect with their peers.

One of the studios showcased during the tour was a music class that featured students working with rhythm and participating in activities that required them to listen to one another and work cooperatively. These activities help students develop skills such as social interaction and joint attention while giving them the opportunity to express themselves.

“The arts become a way for them to connect with each other, to build friendships, to express themselves,” Loretto said. “At times [it] helps them calm down when they need to calm down. It also gives them an energy boost when they need that.”

Among the school’s staff are experienced special education teachers alongside professionals with backgrounds in therapeutic fields and the arts, including occupational therapy, music therapy, art education, dance and mindfulness.

Each classroom has one special education teacher and teacher associates who provide additional support. The school also has dance teachers leading classes in ballet, tap dancing and general movement.

The program comes as an addition to the Center for Discovery’s utilization of the arts, including its annual adapted musical productions. In addition to performing, students also get the chance to help create sets and costumes and even adapt scripts while they study the creators and background of each production.

Those productions are held at the Michael Ritchie Big Barn Center in Hurleyville, which serves as both a performance space and multipurpose venue for the Center for Discovery.

Indeed, staff members agree that the new school reinforces an approach that has been a part of the center’s programs for years.

“My background is music therapy,” Loretto stated. “I think the school is just an evolution of that, of how we think about the arts and what it could be for the students here.”

Currently, the Discovery School of the Arts enrolls 18 students, but the overall Center for Discovery school program is anticipating that number to jump to approximately 420 children by the end of October. The enrolled students are both community and residential students from Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties.