In less than a year, an Española School District teacher scuffled with a parent of one of her former students, was put on leave for allegedly drinking on a field trip and then finally was forced to resign for undisclosed reasons.
Melanie Martinez is now under investigation by the state Education Department’s Educator Ethics Bureau.
A Department spokeswoman declined to release any further information regarding ethics complaints against Martinez, who taught sixth grade at Chimayó and Sombrillo elementary schools until Sept. 5, when she was forced to resign. Martinez did not return calls for comment.
Martinez, 32, was involved in an October 2007 fight with the mother of a former student, who accused Martinez of having an affair with her husband, all in front of Martinez’s Chimayó Elementary third-grade class. Martinez threatened to sue her opponent, who served her with a restraining order in return.
Late last school year, Martinez was put on paid leave after she allegedly purchased alcohol while chaperoning a Chimayó Elementary field trip to San Juan Lake May 19, according to correspondence between the District and its lawyers. She was allowed to return after signing an agreement over the summer that would force her to resign if she was “in any other conflict,” Superintendent David Cockerham said.
“We said, ‘We’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, these are your expectations and these will be the result of those expectations,” Cockerham said.
Under the agreement, Martinez began the school year teaching sixth grade at Sombrillo Elementary, Cockerham said. Correspondence from the District’s lawyers shows she violated the agreement in late August, hardly two weeks after the first day of school, and was asked to resign.
Cockerham said the District reported the May incident to the Department. If the investigation leads to a hearing and that results in a negative ruling, Martinez could receive a warning, fine or revoked teaching license.