LINCROFT – Peter Santanello has been named the eighth Principal of Christian Brothers Academy. His appointment was announced by Brother Frank Byrne, CBA President.
Santanello, currently associate principal for academic affairs at CBA, will assume his new role at the end of the 2011-12 school year. He succeeds Brother James Butler, who has been appointed President of La Salle College High School, Philadelphia, following four years at CBA.
A member of the CBA faculty since 1974, Santanello was appointed associate principal for Academic Affairs in 1982. In addition to teaching mathematics, he has spearheaded numerous initiatives to continuously update and enhance CBA’s academic curriculum, served as Student Council moderator, and represented the faculty to the Board of Trustees.
It was at Santanello’s insistence, early in his tenure as Associate Principal, that CBA entered the evaluation process for the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, resulting in national recognition as an exemplary private school. CBA was one of the first schools in the United States to be so recognized, with an award widely considered to be the highest distinction an American school can receive.
Santanello has also led the school through several cycles of the comprehensive self-study and re-evaluation required regularly to renew CBA’s accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. CBA is one of a few schools recently selected by the Middle States Association to inaugurate a special re-accreditation process designed for outstanding schools.
“The excellent academic reputation that CBA enjoys is due in large part to Pete’s efforts over the years, and I am looking forward to working closely with him as principal” said Brother Frank. “He has the confidence and support of our faculty, and his name is one that always comes up at alumni gatherings when graduates recall the teachers who have made a strong impact on their lives.”
Santanello will be the first CBA Principal who is not a Christian Brother. Honored with the Distinguished Lasallian Educator Award in 1997, he helped craft the document ***ITALSCharacteristics of Lasallian Schools**ENDTALS, which is an articulation of the educational philosophy of the Roman Catholic teaching order, the Brothers of the Christian Schools. He has also served on the Brothers’ District Ministry Team.
“My association with the Christian Brothers began when I was a student at St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School in West New York,” Santanello says, “and my years at CBA have fostered a strong commitment to Lasallian educational values. I am looking forward to continuing my service to CBA in this new role.”
Santanello earned his A.B. ***ITALSsumma cum laude **ENDTALSat St. Peter’s College, his M.S. in mathematics at Rutgers University, and his Ed.M. also at Rutgers. He and his wife, Janice, are the parents of two children. Their son, Dr. Andrew Santanello, is a 1997 CBA graduate.
Christian Brothers Academy, founded in 1959, is an independent college preparatory school for young men in Lincroft, New Jersey. Its current enrollment is 950 students, from Monmouth, Ocean, and Middlesex Counties. Sponsored by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Roman Catholic teaching order founded in France by St. John Baptist de La Salle in the late 17th century, CBA is one of 55 Lasallian secondary schools in the United States.
