Belen Board of Education approves new, one-year contract for superintendent

BELEN — The Belen Consolidated Schools superintendent accepted a new contract for the 2025-26 school year.

At the Tuesday, Feb. 11, Belen Board of Education meeting, BCS Superintendent Lawrence Sanchez was unanimously approved to continue his leadership role with the school district with a new, one-year contract starting on July 1. The new agreement bumps his annual compensation to $168,000 — an increase of $10,000 — for the 235 work day contract.

BCS Board of Education President Jim Danner made a motion to offer Sanchez the contract and board member Joanne Silva seconded the motion.

Danner said he, as an individual board member, recognized the performance of the superintendent is “intrinsically linked to the school system’s overall performance. Consequently, the expectations for the superintendent are outlined in the district goals and the superintendent monitoring goals approved by the board. The superintendent is accountable for prioritizing student outcomes as the primary objective for ensuring student success.”

He continued, saying the district’s financial status remains strong, “with a healthy cash balance that sustains operations. The district must maintain its momentum toward positive progress, therefore, I will support the approval of Mr. Sanchez’s contract.”

Board member Aubrey Tucker said he agreed with everything Danner said, with one addition.

“I believe in multi-year contracts. To the south and north, we have two dysfunctional districts. One is not needing a superintendent and one is searching (for a superintendent),” Tucker said. “We have a superintendent in place. A ‘war time’ superintendent. He got us through COVID. The next war was deciphering what the board president wanted and navigating that successfully.”

A multi-year contract is important for continuity, Tucker said, noting he didn’t think the district has a superintendent who would abuse such a contract.

“At the same time, I think we should consider this for principals and everyone, to give us continuity,” he said. “And that’s this board member’s opinion.”

Tucker asked for an amendment on the motion to offer Sanchez a two-year contract, with a second from board secretary Larry Garley.

The motion failed on a 2-3 vote, with Tucker and Garley voting in favor and Danner, Silva and board vice president Ralph Fernandez voting against.

The motion for a one-year contract passed unanimously.

One caveat in the contract is that Sanchez cannot accumulate more than 30 days of vacation and 30 days of earned leave, for a total of 60 days. Danner noted the board felt that limit was important due to past issues with previous superintendents taking off for extended periods of time due to accumulated leave.

“We vote on this then it’s up to Mr. Sanchez what he wants to accept,” Danner said.

Sanchez accepted the terms of the offered contract at the meeting.