Former Maine East teacher gets probation

Jennifer Espinosa, the former Maine East High School science teacher charged with having a sexual relationship with a former student, won't spend any time in jail after pleading guilty to reduced charges Thursday in a Skokie courtroom.

Espinosa, 40, entered the plea after Cook County prosecutors amended the charges against her from aggravated criminal sexual abuse to aggravated battery. She received 30 months of probation and was ordered to surrender her teaching license, said a spokesman from the Office of the Cook County State's Attorney.

Cook County Sheriff's Police were patrolling the Golf Terrace Apartments in unincorporated Cook County in May 2009 when they found the Park Ridge woman and the then 16-year-old former student in her parked car along with several other occupants. The officer detected an odor of marijuana and later recovered suspected marijuana which led to misdemeanor drug possession charges against another occupant.

Espinosa admitted having an eight-month relationship with the teen, whom authorities described as a known gang member who had been expelled several months earlier. Espinosa claimed the relationship began after the teen's expulsion, authorities said.

The Maine Township High School District 207 school board voted to terminate the contract of the former soccer coach a little more than a month after her arrest. At the time of her firing, a District 207 spokesman said that Espinosa, a tenured teacher in her 15th year with the district, would not receive retirement benefits because she had not met the minimum age and service requirements.