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Broken pipe closes special needs preschool program indefinitely

Joshua Early Childhood Center in Centennial serves kids with autism.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. — What's supposed to be a place of learning currently sounds like an airplane hangar and smells like a wet dog, according to Brooke Lestikow, program director at the Joshua Early Childhood Center.

"We serve 55 families and half of our population here is students with autism," Lestikow, one of two program directors, said.

Tuesday morning, Lestikow and staff members walked into a mess after the long weekend.

"In one of our adult bathrooms, the pipe had burst, just a total fluke," Lestikow said.

It amounts to a total headache, with water causing damage in five classrooms and bathrooms around the building.

"I think in this (classroom) there was probably almost two inches of standing water," Lestikow said.

As workers assess the damage, Lestikow says the preschool is closed indefinitely.

"It's unknown right now. We're getting a lot of different estimates," Lestikow said. "They're still in the process of just drawing everything out."

The other program director, Jamie Cohen, is working on finding a new temporary home as quickly as possible.

"I guess if anyone knows of any spaces that would be available for us to have in the meantime, let us know," Cohen said. "We'll be out there in a minute."

Cohen is worried about her special needs students missing their important therapy program.

"A lot of them are learning to talk for the first time at age six and they're making progress," Cohen said. "Not having a place for them to learn right now is extremely impactful."

Finding daycare for special needs kids can be difficult, according to Cohen.

"Many of our children attend here because they can't go anywhere else," Cohen said.

If you know of an option to house their program, Listikow and Cohen would like you to call them at (720) 316-5234.

"We do not want this to take long," Cohen said. "Our goal was to have something by next week."

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