District 60 teacher says staff were blindsided as board debates preschool (UPK) cuts and budget

A prekindergarten teacher told the Pueblo School District No. 60 Board of Education on March 11 that early childhood educators were “blindsided” on Feb. 24 by a plan to shrink the district’s preschool program and cut staff, prompting public comment and an extended board discussion about budget options.

Terry Perez, a pre-K teacher with District 60, told the board she and other early childhood staff were informed that preschool and pre-K classrooms would be reduced from 32 to 16 and that full‑day classes would be shortened to three hours from six. "We were told all pre k classrooms would be going to 3 hour classes as opposed to the 6 hours we currently have and that we would be reducing the program to 1 classroom per elementary school, meaning there would only be 16 preschool and pre k classrooms as opposed to the current 32," Perez said. She said the reduction would eliminate two ECE certified coaches, eight certified teachers and 21 ECE teachers — "that's 31 professionals" — and that staff were told cuts would be…