WESTBROOK — With little fanfare Oct. 10, the School Committee took the first step in approving a contract to keep Superintendent Peter Lancia in the district’s top education office for another three years.

The board is expected to approve the contract, which would run from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2022, on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

Lancia took over as superintendent in 2016 when Marc Gousse took a job as superintendent of the Mount Desert Regional School System after five years at the helm.

School Committee Chairman Jim Violette cited Lancia’s passion for curriculum and education as the top reasons to keep Lancia on the job.

“With your hard work and your paying attention to budgets, you’ve gotten the School Committee to support your vision,” Violette said.

He said Lancia has developed a “great leadership team” and support staff “from top to bottom.”

“I don’t think the School Committee could be any prouder of what you have done for this district,” Violette said.

Lancia said serving as superintendent has been “a pleasure.”

Prior to taking over as superintendent, Lancia worked for six years as the district’s director of teaching and learning/assistant superintendent. Lancia also was principal at Congin School for eight years. He started his career in Westbrook as a second grade teacher at Saccarappa School in 1990. In 2002, just before taking the principal role, he was chosen as the Maine Teacher of the Year.