Current Role & School Snapshot:

Oscar Santos has served as Head of School / President at Cathedral High School in Boston since July 2013.²¹  Cathedral High School is a private, co-educational Catholic school serving approximately 280 students in grades 7 – 12. In SY18, the cost to educate a CHS student was $14,000, split evenly between philanthropy-based assistance and student tuition. ²²The school boasts an on-time graduation rate of 100% as well as a college-acceptance rate of 100%.²³

Previous Work Experience:

Santos began his career in education as a BPS teacher in 1996 and worked in the classroom until 2003. In 2004, he became Headmaster of Boston International High School, a role he held until 2010. From 2010 until 2013, he served as Superintendent of Randolph Public Schools, a district enrolling 2,737 students.²⁴ 15% of RPS’s students are Hispanic (compared to 42% of BPS students), and 50% are African American (compared to 34% of BPS students). 37% of RPS students speak a language other than English at home (compared to 45% of BPS students), and 15% are English Language Learners (compared to 32% of BPS students).  Prior to leaving Randolph Public Schools in 2013, Santos acknowledged that he did not intend to seek a renewal of his contract because it had become “clear that [his] priorities [were] not aligned with the priorities of the majority of the Randolph School Committee.”²⁵ Elaborating, he said that although he loved the work, he was not able to work well with the town’s school committee.  

Of Note:

• Classroom Technology. At the helm of Cathedral High School, Santos led the completion of the school’s Applied Learning Center to allow students to have hands-on experiences with robotics and 3D printers. Santos noted, “[A]s the world changes, students need opportunities to have applied learning experiences.”²⁶
  
• Experiential Learning. In 2018, Santos announced that Cathedral High School would partner with Northeastern University to develop Cathedral teachers into “entrepreneurial-based educators” able to work with an experiential learning model and offer “students more choice and voice during project-based learning.”²⁷
  

Awards & Achievements:

• As a classroom teacher at BPS’s English High School in 2002, Santos was named Boston Teacher of the Year.²⁸
  
• While serving as Superintendent of Randolph Public Schools in 2011, Santos was honored with the Governor’s Award for Extraordinary Latino Leadership.²⁹

²¹“Oscar Santos,” LinkedIn.
²²“Tuition And Financial Aid,” Cathedral High School.
²³“Why Cathedral,” Cathedral High School.
²⁴ “Randolph – Enrollment Data,” Massachusetts Department Of Elementary & Secondary Education.
²⁵ “Randolph’s Superintendent To Leave In June,” Boston Globe, November 22, 2012.
²⁶ “Celebrate Catholic Schools Week 2019,” The North End Regional Review, January 24, 2019.
²⁷ “Cathedral High, Northeastern Partner On Experiential Learning Programs,” The Boston Pilot, June 1, 2018.
²⁸ “Who Is The Compact?” Boston Compact.
²⁹“Around The Archdiocese,” The Boston Pilot, June 7, 2013.