State Shuts Down Littleton Preschool

LITTLETON, CO -- A preschool in Littleton was closed down this week by the state children's welfare agency after the school allegedly failed to fix noted safety violations and had too few staff.

Little Minds Child Learning Center at 5882 S. Youngfield Court enrolled about 100 students. The school's license was suspended by the Colorado Dept. of Human Services.

“This is an enormous inconvenience and not just for me but for all the families. I think there are more than 100 families that use this facility. My wife and I had to take off work today," parent Brian Scarpetta told CBS News. “Children love it here. There are some teachers they’ve really grown attached to and it’s kind of sad for them as well because these teachers that do really care about the students, now they’re out of a job.”

The school was put on probation in 2016 after an infant was burned with hot water from a microwave, according to the suspension document.

Inspections recorded five "unsafe sleeping violations" of small children in cribs with loose sheets, unnecessary swaddling, and pacifiers with long cords or attached to stuffed animals that "posed suffocation hazards."

A May inspection was one of several in 2018 revealing that too few employees were supervising the children, the report said. Two employees were found supervising 25, 26 and 27 children. The state-mandated early education child-to teacher-ratio for the three-to-five age range is 20 children per two employees, the report said.

The report also noted that a staff member allegedly grabbed a child roughly by the arm "and was screaming at the child while the child was crying and rolling on the floor." The report alleged that staffers used profanity around the children.

The CEO of the company told CBS that the allegations were "exaggerations from a disgruntled former employed an overzealous social worker," the station reported.

Read the suspension order here:

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