Boulder County and Colorado social-services officials are launching investigations into a Nederland preschool that became the center of controversy when one of its teachers was arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a young student.
As detectives looked into the abuse allegations against Kristen Barnett, 38 — who’s been teaching at Over the Rainbow preschool since this past summer — they discovered that three other teachers have criminal records, including one employee who’s been arrested on suspicion of child abuse and another who’s been arrested on suspicion of battery.
“There’s the issue of background checks and a number of other things,” said Liz McDonough, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Human Services. McDonough didn’t elaborate and said her agency will wait to begin its investigation until after the Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services completes its child-abuse investigation of Barnett and the school.
Meantime, McDonough said, her department is talking with Boulder County officials about whether it’s appropriate for the school to continue operating while the investigations are underway.
According to court documents and the school’s website, Over the Rainbow has five staff members, although Barnett’s name has been removed from the staff list online. Marnie Copeland, 39, is identified as executive director on the website. Wendy Beatty, 59, is identified as a pre-K teacher, Rachel Schaub, 31, is listed as a preschool teacher and David Driscoll, 24, is a teacher’s assistant, according to the site.
