West New York's Board of Education quietly approved a retroactive five-year contract for Superintendent Clara Brito Herrera in late August that will push her salary to $394,507 by its final year, a figure that surfaced only after a records request sat unanswered for weeks and a lawyer had to intervene.
The board approved the deal on Aug. 26 by a vote of 5-0(2), with President Jonathan Castaneda, Vice President Jose Mendoza, and Trustees Damarys Gonzalez, Stephanie Gonzalez, Sandra Pfiel, Ana Sanchez and Doug Velasquez all listed as voting, according to Hudson County View. The resolution does not say which two members abstained from the vote. Brito Herrera's contract sets an initial annual salary of $324,563 effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027, climbing to $340,791 in year two, $357,830 in year three, $375,721 in year four, and finally $394,507 in the fifth and final year.
A Records Request That Took Six Weeks and a Lawyer
Getting the actual contract into public view wasn't easy. Journalist John Heinis filed an Open Public Records Act request for the document on Sept. 14, and the district blew past the standard seven-business-day response window without providing it. Heinis says he asked district official Dean Austin to confirm the request had even been received, and that neither Austin nor Brito Herrera responded to his follow-up calls and emails.
On Sept. 29, Heinis warned the district he would file a complaint with the state Government Records Council and seek relief in Hudson County Superior Court if the records remained withheld. Three weeks later, on Oct. 20, attorney CJ Griffin, a partner and director at Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, P.C., sent the district a notice on Hudson County View's behalf. Griffin said the outlet had sought a contract subject to immediate access under the law and had followed up multiple times without a response, warning that the outlet would seek a court order compelling disclosure, along with legal fees, if the request wasn't fulfilled immediately. Austin finally turned over copies of the resolution and contract on Oct. 23. Neither Austin nor Brito Herrera has explained the delay.
How the Pay Compares Across Hudson County
The $394,507 ceiling on Brito Herrera's contract is notable given the size of the district she runs. It exceeds the five-year contract maximum of $372,714 for Jersey City Superintendent Dr. Norma Fernandez, even though Jersey City has more than three times as many students enrolled in its public schools than West New York. Jersey City's Board of Education approved Fernandez's new five-year deal in July by a 6-2 vote, according to NJ.com, which also reported that Jersey City Public Schools has roughly 29,000 students, making it the third-largest district in the state.
Salary rankings for Fernandez have varied depending on the source and measure used. NJ.com's statewide list placed her as the second-highest-paid superintendent in New Jersey, reporting she earned $331,616 as head of Jersey City's public schools. The Courier-Post, meanwhile, listed Fernandez's base salary at $311,472, ranking first in Hudson County. The same Courier-Post list put North Bergen Township Superintendent George Solter second in the county at $291,110 and Union City Superintendent Silvia Abbato third at $290,416.
Statewide Context for Superintendent Pay
Brito Herrera's contract also lands well above the statewide norm. The average full-time New Jersey superintendent earned $203,728 during the 2025-26 school year, up 3% from the prior year's $197,444 average, according to NJ.com, which draws the figures from the state Department of Education's Certificated Staff Database. That database is self-reported by individual school districts. The outlet identified Howard Lerner, who served two districts, as the state's highest-paid superintendent that year at $346,189.
Brito Herrera has led West New York Public Schools since May 2015, when she succeeded the late John Fauta as superintendent. The district was designated a High Performing School District by the New Jersey Department of Education in 2025, per the same Hudson County View report that broke the contract story. Whether that designation factored into the board's decision to approve a contract exceeding Jersey City's isn't addressed in the available record.
