AUBURN – A preschool for special needs children was burglarized late Monday or early Tuesday, and thousands of dollars in equipment were stolen.

A teacher at the school said it appeared the Early Learning Center on Chestnut Street had been broken into sometime overnight. Taken were a new computer, software, a digital camera, compact discs and other items.

According to Monica Michaud, a teacher at the center, the building had also been ransacked. Michaud said she and other staff members left the school at 3:30 p.m. Monday. When a bus driver arrived there early Tuesday, the burglary and thefts were discovered.

Michaud said office space and a storage room with art supplies inside had been ransacked. Toys, books and other items were left alone by a thief or thieves who targeted mostly expensive equipment.

The center, which is operated by Pathways, did not have to close its doors to children Tuesday morning.

“We had a couple kids come in around 8,” Michaud said. “A couple of them noticed it so I just closed the office door. Nothing of theirs was touched, so it really didn’t affect them.”

School officials called the police. Police were asking that anyone with information about the burglary to phone them at 784-7332.