Lawsuit alleges Bernalillo teacher abused student and had prior disciplinary history

A Bernalillo Public Schools teacher has been accused of physically and verbally abusing a student in a recently filed lawsuit.

The suit, filed Jan. 27 in U.S. District Court for the state of New Mexico, leveled the allegations against Melanie Jean Martinez, who worked as a fifth grade teacher at Bernalillo Elementary School from 2018 to 2023. 

The suit alleges Martinez bullied a student, grabbed her wrist and neck, threw books at her and refused to let her use the restroom, which led to the girl urinating herself in class. After urinating herself at her desk, Martinez allegedly told the girl to “suck it up with a straw.”

In the complaint, Martinez is also accused of calling the girl, then 10 years old and a student in Martinez’s class, “disgusting,” “stupid” and “different.” Martinez is accused of telling the student, whose mother is from Mexico, that the girl was “some kind of animal,” that she “comes from an idiot family,” and that “Jesus was coming for everyone but her.”

In written statements to the New Mexico Public Education Department included in the complaint, Martinez's former students allege she had called a student of color a racial slur, showed photos containing nudity to students and showed photos of the girl on her mother’s Instagram account to the class to make fun of the way she looked.

Students told PED investigators that Martinez texted students outside of class and threatened them if they reported her behavior or her treatment of the girl.

“It’s traumatic,” said Julio Romero, an attorney for the plaintiff. “She still suffers from the effects. These are critical developmental ages, periods in someone’s life. Core memories are built at this time. When you’re in fifth grade and we have this teacher who’s in a position of power, who every day humiliates and targets this particular child, these effects are long lasting.”

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys' fees and "other such relief as deemed just and proper."

An attorney for Martinez declined to comment on the case.

According to the complaint, Martinez had her teaching license suspended for two months last summer as a result of the PED investigation. She is currently listed on the BPS website as an English language arts teacher for grades six through eight at Cochiti Elementary/Middle School in Peña Blanca.

BPS spokesperson JoAnn Beuerle would not confirm whether Martinez was still employed by the district. She said BPS does not comment on pending litigation.

According to the suit, Martinez had a history of similar disciplinary infractions when she was employed at Española Public Schools. The complaint cites a warning letter issued to Martinez in September 2017 by the district, accusing Martinez of “social isolation, threatening, intimidation and emotional abuse of students.”

Martinez was placed on a professional growth plan during that school year, then eventually terminated in May 2018, according to the complaint.

Española Public Schools Superintendent Carl Marano said he wasn’t familiar with Martinez’s case because he assumed the position last year, but said that based on his understanding, the district responded appropriately.

“That’s the normal, standard procedure for any district when dealing with a personnel matter, and especially a classroom teacher,” Marano said. “It sounds like they went through the correct process.”

BPS Deputy Superintendent Eric James recommended Martinez for a position at the district around the same time she was terminated by EPS, Romero said.

James and Jayme Schutte, former principal of Bernalillo Elementary School, are both named as defendants in the suit. Attorneys for the plaintiff allege the two ignored Martinez’s prior disciplinary history when hiring the teacher, and did not act appropriately when she began accumulating infractions at BPS.

Before the alleged incidents with the female student detailed in the lawsuit, the complaint claims based on district records that Martinez had 10 documented disciplinary violations for job abandonment, refusal to wear a mask during the COVID pandemic, threatening to hang students from a window and tie them up, telling students to lie about what happens in her classroom and “ridiculing and bullying” students in front of the class. 

The complaint alleges that on the same day Schutte and James received the report of Martinez’s 10th violation, Schutte signed a recommendation for renewal of Martinez’s contract with BPS for the 2022-2023 school year. 

The PED opened an investigation into the allegations against Martinez in February 2023, which lasted until June 2025, according to the complaint. The investigation found that the PED had enough evidence of misconduct that would justify the department in “taking disciplinary action” against Martinez’s teaching license. 

A spokesperson for the PED said information on disciplinary investigations is only available via public records request and declined to comment on the pending litigation.

 Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.