Christian Brothers Academy names new principal

MIDDLETOWN — Peter Santanello has been named the eighth principal of Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft. His appointment was announced by Brother Frank Byrne, CBA president.

Currently associate principal for academic affairs, Santanello 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.

Amember 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, according to a press release.

At Santanello’s direction, CBA entered the evaluation process for the Blue Ribbon Schools Program, resulting in the academy’s national recognition as an Exemplary Private School. CBA was one of the first schools in the U.S. to be so recognized with this distinction, according to the press release.

Santanello has 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 was recently selected by the Middle States Association to inaugurate a special reaccreditation process designed for outstanding schools, the press release states.

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 “Characteristics of Lasallian Schools,” which is an articulation of the educational philosophy of the Roman Catholic teaching order, the Brothers of the Christian Schools.

Santanello earned his A.B. summa cum laude at St. Peter’s College, his M.S. in mathematics at Rutgers University, and his Ed.M. also at Rutgers.

Christian Brothers Academy, founded in 1959, is an independent college preparatory school for young men. Its current enrollment is 950 students, from Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties. Sponsored by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, CBA is one of 55 Lasallian secondary schools in the U.S.