Former School Counselor’s Plea Rejected

TYLER – A state district court judge has rejected a plea from a former Arp school counselor who was convicted last month of sexual assault of a child. Barbara Orpineda was sentenced to 5 years in prison. She still faces one additional count and 2 counts of improper relationship between an educator and student. Judge Christi Kennedy rejected the plea Thursday during a pretrial hearing. She has given both the state and the defense 10 days to come to an agreement on how to proceed. Prior to becoming the Arp Elementary counselor, Orpineda taught seventh grade math for four years. When arrested, she denied the allegations. She also denied the allegations during the trial when she testified in her own defense.