San Benito school board gives superintendent another year
SAN BENITO — The school board has given Superintendent Antonio Limon a one-year contract extension on his job that now pays him an annual salary of $162,000.
The contract extension didn’t come with a raise, Limon said. Budget cuts have capped all employee salaries for three years, he said.
Limon said he requested the one-year extension as he approaches retirement.
“As I get closer to retirement, I will only ask for one year at a time,” Limon, who’s served as superintendent for eight years, said Wednesday.
But Limon declined to disclose when he may retire.
He said his contract now expires in 2014.
The school board met in closed session for about 90 minutes Tuesday night before voting to grant Limon the extension as part of his annual evaluation.
“I’m very honored and appreciative of the board for extending my contract,” Limon said.
“I look forward to continue working with the board for the betterment of the students. I thank God for the opportunity to continue to work for San Benito.”
Limon’s contract was for three years, granted by the school board three years ago.
Board President Yliana Rodriguez did not return telephone calls requesting comment.
Board member Oscar Medrano referred questions to Rodriguez and board Vice President Hector Leal.
Leal declined comment.
Other board members could not be reached for comment.
Limon was drawn some scrutiny since 2010, most recently in September when board members took no action on Rodriguez’s request to discuss whether Limon violated school policy when he called for an Aug. 30 meeting, during which the board passed a $92.2 million general fund budget.
Rodriguez argued Limon violated a school policy that states the board president must post board meetings.
But Limon said he posted the meeting because board members who included Rodriguez agreed at an Aug. 23 meeting to call the Aug. 30 meeting.
School attorney Gustavo Acevedo said that a state law that requires school boards to pass their annual budgets by the end of August supersedes local school policy.
In May 2010, Rodriguez and former board member Manuel Gonzalez asked the board to discipline Limon for failure to inform them that he had discovered that a principal had a 1990 felony bribery conviction.
Limon said his failure to notify the board was an “oversight.”
Board members voted against a reprimand.
The board accepted former Frank Roberts Elementary School principal Enrique Murillo’s resignation, which was effective in June 2011.
fernandodv@valleystar.com
