The Mercedes Independent School District Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to terminate the contract of Maria Luisa Espino, a teacher who was arrested in June for allegedly injuring a child with a disability.
Trustees discussed the decision in closed session and did not comment on it in open session.
The district had not disclosed Espino’s employment status at the time of her arrest and largely declined to comment on it.
The arrest did, however, occur about the time the board considered engaging a law firm for special education counsel — a consideration two trustees indicated was triggered by a specific incident.
It’s not clear whether the incident leading to Espino’s arrest was what they were referencing, and that push for special counsel ultimately failed.
A release from the Mercedes Police Department in June said it received a report about a child with a disability having injuries at Mercedes High School and that investigators retrieved evidence and obtained an arrest warrant for Espino.
An arrest report obtained by The Monitor through an open records request sheds no additional light on that evidence or the incident that led to Espino’s arrest.
The police narrative for the arrest reads in its entirety “On Wednesday June 01, 2022 at approximately 11:07 AM I arrested Maria Luisa Espino and charged her with Inj. Child/Elderly/Disabled Reckless BI.”
The rest of the report relates solely to booking information and Espino’s basic physical information.
