SCHOOL BOARD
JIM DANNER – PRESIDENT
DANNERJ@BELENEAGLES.ORG
505-966-1003
District 4
Jim is a resident of Belen and attended the Belen Schools from 1st grade on through 12th grade, graduating from Belen High School in 1962. He continued his education and graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Education. Not only is Mr. Danner a former student and graduate of Belen Schools, he is also a former Teacher from Belen High School. He has also worked for Belen Schools as a Principal, Coach, and Athletic Coordinator. Mr. Danner is married to Sarah and they have two children, one daughter and one son, who both are graduates of Belen High School and the University of New Mexico. He also has five grandchildren that he enjoys spending time with.
RALPH FERNANDEZ – BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
FERNANDEZRA@BELENEAGLES.ORG
505-966-1003
District 3
Ralph was born and raised in Las Cruces, NM and has been residing in Rio Communities, NM since 2005. At the age of 20 he joined the Department of Correction, NM and after 25yrs of service he retired as the Chief of the Bernalillo County, Metropolitan Detention Center. He was responsible for more than 500 employees, an average of 1500 inmates, and oversaw an annual budget of $62 million dollars. In his role, it was in his directive to plan, organize, and implement programs and services for the department. His qualifications and experience come directly from his time in an executive leadership role within one of our government departments, where he had a direct impact on the lives and wellbeing of other people. Mr. Fernandez is married to Roxy, and they have four children, Aj, Brandon, Arthur, and Lauryn, also four grandchildren and one more on the way. As a lifetime public servant and now an elected official, he is looking forward to his commitment to serving his community.
LARRY GARLEY – BOARD SECRETARY
GARLEYL@BELENEAGLES.ORG
505-966-1003
District 5
Larry received his Bachelors Degree in 1972 from Western New Mexico University with Double Major in Social Science and Physical Education with a Minor in Safety in Education and Driver Education. Mr. Garley also attended University of Nevada Las Vegas, University Nevada Reno, Azusa Pacific College, University of New Mexico, UNM-Valencia Campus, as well as attending New Mexico Highlands University where he received his Masters in 1995. Larry went on to teach for two years at Clark County School District in Las Vegas, NM, then became a teacher at Belen High School where he taught for 37 years. During his time at Belen High School, Mr. Garley was a Department Chair, he taught Physical Education, Social Science, was a football coach for 11 years, a boys basketball coach for 8 years, and a boys and girls golf coach for 29 years. Mr. Garley has also been teaching our youth Drivers Education for the past 46 years and is small business owner of Garley's School of Driving for the past 23 years.
Larry has been married twice, has two children, Matthew who resides in Las Vegas, NM and Denise who resides in Los Lunas, NM. Mr. Garley has three beautiful grandchildren. Larry loves to play golf as much as possible, attend Lobo Football, Basketball, and Football games as well as attending Belen High School sports. He enjoys movies, reading, and doing crossword puzzles. His future plans include teaching his grandkids how to drive, play golf, and providing college tuition.
See the New Mexico School Board Association for more information on New Mexico Boards of Education.
AUBREY E. TUCKER - BOARD MEMBER
TUCKERA@BELENEAGLES.ORG
505-966-1003
District 2
Aubrey Tucker has been a Valencia County resident since 1994. Before arriving in New Mexico, Aubrey was a soldier in the United States Army serving in Europe from 1988 to 1993. Once he completed his active duty service, he worked as a teacher, band director, and administrator for the Belen School District for 14 years. Aubrey was the Belen High School site Teacher of the year for 1998-1999 School year. During that time, he also volunteered his time as a Reserve Police Officer for the City of Belen and also volunteered as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff for the Valencia County Sheriff’s Department. Mr. Tucker’s educational career has a wealth of accolades and success stories. In 2008, Aubrey landed an administrative position at Bernalillo High School as their Vice Principal. In 2008 Bernalillo High School was classified as a failing school needing improvement. After surviving three Superintendent changes and three Principal changes in 5 years, Bernalillo High School’s grade was a solid 87 overall and listed as a “B” as the grade in 2012. Since Bernalillo High School was considered stable, Mr. Tucker was then assigned the Principal position at Santo Domingo School for both Elementary and Middle School. Both Schools at Santo Domingo were classified as failing schools when he arrived. After a year of his leadership with a very talented Assistant Principal Larryssa Archuleta, both schools were able to move from their failing status to a passing grade for the first time in 5 years. This was a major accomplishment for students, staff, district, and the Santo Domingo community in 2013.
“I am very humbled to have the opportunity to serve the community of Valencia and Socorro Counties once again. I have devoted my entire career to helping people and the community. I am very grateful to, once again, work in a capacity to serve the residents of Valencia and Socorro County. Our children are the future and it will take the efforts of everyone in the community to contribute to their success.”
JOANNE SILVA - BOARD MEMBER
SILVAJ@BELENEAGLES.ORG
505-966-1003
District 1
Ms. Joanne Silva is a resident of Belén where she attended Rio Grande Elementary School, Belén Junior High School and Belén High School. She continued her education at the University of New México earning a Bachelor’s Degree in education and a Master’s Degree in Spanish from the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. Ms. Silva has worked with children and youth grades preK-12+ in the areas of Bilingual Education, Special Education, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies and TESOL. She worked for Belén Consolidated Schools as an assistant principal, principal, director, educational diagnostician and cross-country coach. Prior to working in Belén, Ms. Silva taught with the Los Lunas and Mountainair Schools. She also worked for the University of New México-Valencia Campus as a Sr. Academic Advisor. Many of Ms. Silva’s family members attended Belen School, including grandparents, father, siblings, nephews, nieces, and her daughter, Iris. Ms. Silva enjoys running, hiking in the Manzano Mountains, and spending time with her family.