SAN ANTONIO — Maribel Gardea, a local advocate, was arrested at an Edgewood Independent School District board meeting last week but has since had all charges dropped. Gardea was taken into custody after speaking past her allotted time at the podium during a meeting where she was advocating for transparency, safety, and accountability from the district.
Gardea spent a night in Bexar County Jail and faced charges of criminal trespass, disrupting a meeting or procession, and resisting arrest. However, these charges were dismissed due to insufficient evidence.
“I’m grateful for that. Obviously the truth was going to prevail, and it did. The DA’s office dropped the charges. So definitely makes me happy about that, but still unfinished,” Gardea said.
Despite the charges being dropped, Gardea stated she has not received an apology from the district. Some parents have reached out on her behalf but have not received a response.
“Parents are definitely upset that nothing has been addressed, and then yet, they’re still not being transparent with the families that know that they are a D rated district,” Gardea said.
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Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, commented on the situation, saying, “So if they thought that through this action, that they were somehow going to extinguish the fire, they did nothing but throw a whole fresh can of gasoline right on top of it.”
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Rodrigues added, “The issues that these parents were talking about, the fact that their kids they feel their kids are in danger, that they’re being bullied, that this is an unsafe environment, that there is not good communication with parents like these are the real issues that these parents want to have discussed.”
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Efforts to obtain a comment from Edgewood ISD regarding Gardea’s arrest and the concerns of parents have been unsuccessful. A public records request has been submitted for any communication related to the incident.