BPS announces three superintendent finalists - one local, two from out of state

The Boston School Committee has selected three finalists for school superintendent: Oscar Santos, head of school for the Cathedral 7-12 High School in Boston, Marie Izquierdo, chief academic officer of Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida and Brenda Cassellius, until recently commissioner of education for the state of Minnesota.

The three will be interviewed four times next week - once by a panel of community members, including one BPS parent, once by the School Committee, once by a panel of BPS students and teachers and once by a panel of parents and BPS administrators (all the interviews will be shown on the city public-access channel).

Santos, has led Cathedral, a co-ed parochial school with more than 300 students in the South End, since 2013, when he left his job as school superintendent in Randolph. Before that, he was headmaster at BPS's Boston International High School.

Izquierdo has served as chief academic officer in the country's fourth largest school district - with 350,000 students - for nearly six years. She oversees 1,200 employees and directly manages a budget of some $281 million.

Casselius was appointed Minnesota education commissioner in 2010. Before that, she served as administrator of a regional system of ten Minnesota school systems and as an associate superintendent for Minneapolis Public Schools.