Heal a School: How a Lifetime in Education Became a Global Mentorship Journey

Key Points

• Retired principal Thomas Santo launched Heal a School to support school leaders in rural South Asia through mentorship, professional development, and hands-on school improvement efforts.
• The initiative centers on listening first, co-creating solutions with local leaders, and meeting both structural and emotional needs—everything from leadership coaching to uniforms, shoes, and summer learning.
• Rooted in social and emotional learning (SEL), this human-centered approach emphasizes connection, care, and community as essential to helping schools and students thrive.

“We didn’t have uniforms before. Now we do, and we feel so happy. We all come to school wearing the same uniform, and it feels very nice.” That reflection from a student in South Asia, shared by a local teacher, reminded me why I started Heal a School.

For over four decades, my work as a teacher, principal, and mentor has taken me across the globe—from Nicaragua to Kenya, Romania to China, and beyond. Each experience has deepened my belief that every child, regardless of geography or circumstance, deserves access to quality education.

But what does access to a “quality education” really mean?

It isn’t just about academic instruction. It includes having basic needs met—like shoes, school supplies, and a safe place to learn. It includes strong teaching and leadership. And just as critically, it includes the things that often go unnamed: connection, joy, a sense of belonging, the feeling of being seen and valued. These are the building blocks of SEL, and they are at the heart of what makes school a place where students and adults can truly thrive.

While traveling internationally, I saw this truth reflected in school communities around the world. I witnessed both the challenges educators face—limited resources, inadequate infrastructure, minimal professional development—and the extraordinary resilience and creativity they bring to their work. Principals, teachers, and students striving to succeed despite the odds.

That’s why I founded Heal a School: to walk alongside school leaders and communities, offering mentorship, professional learning, and targeted support. Not as a one-size-fits-all program, but as a partnership rooted in care, connection, and collaboration.

What Is Heal a School?

Heal a School is a mentorship initiative I launched during retirement, but it’s really the continuation of everything I spent four decades building as an educator. It grew from a desire to bring healing to school communities through a holistic approach to education.

Over the past three years, this volunteer mentorship program has grown to include three principals in India and a principal in Pakistan overseeing 13 village schools. Our mission to “Heal a School” is built on three foundational pillars:

• Personal mentorship
• Professional development
• Private sponsorship

Listening First, Leading Together (Personal Mentorship)

I believe deeply in what I call multi-generational leadership: the idea that seasoned educators have a responsibility to pass on what we’ve learned. Through regular Zoom calls, I offer one-on-one mentorship to school administrators, where we collaboratively address challenges and develop solutions that strengthen school leadership and teaching practices.

It starts with listening: learning about each school’s culture, community, strengths, and needs. In one case, that meant creating a school calendar outlining core values and brainstorming ways to better engage families. In another, it meant providing opportunities for older students to take on leadership roles, including organizing a day of peer mentorship activities with younger classmates. What emerges from these conversations isn’t a preset plan, but a shared direction, shaped by the realities of each school and the people leading it.

Teaching the Teachers (Professional Development)

In talking with school leaders, one common theme quickly emerged: Their teachers needed support, too. Many are not formally trained educators, but caring adults from the village doing their best to teach.

So we began organizing professional development sessions, often led by volunteer educators from around the world. I invite guests to lead one-hour Zoom trainings on topics the schools identify as priorities: phonics, math, science, writing, technology. It might be a reading specialist from Canada or a mathematician from New Jersey. What matters is that these sessions address real needs and are delivered with care.

Teachers have introduced innovative strategies into their classrooms to make learning more interactive, like outdoor math lessons with bicycles, small-group learning, and recognition programs.

Currently, we are planning to launch a full-day professional development model, splitting the day into sessions for primary and upper grades. After a morning of training, school leaders take the afternoon to reflect and plan with their teams. It will be exciting to see how even one day of shared learning can energize a whole school and begin building long-term capacity.

Foundations for Learning (Private Sponsorship)

Finally, there’s the part of Heal a School that addresses essential needs: roofs, shoes, uniforms, supplies. Meeting these needs makes it possible for students to show up, feel safe, and focus on learning.

When a principal shared that students were walking barefoot to school, I spread the word. And through the generosity of friends, we got them sandals. Enrollment rose from 342 to 451. When we supplied school uniforms, a dedicated teacher volunteered her time to tailor them, making sure every student could wear theirs with pride. Another teacher shared, “Before, some students missed school because they didn’t have the right clothes. Now, enrollment has risen and students are more engaged in learning.”

We’ve also supported summer enrichment programs and infrastructure improvements. In one school, we helped replace a bamboo structure with a brick building and tin roof. In another, we secured a parcel of land to expand the campus. We’ve provided computers, teacher supplies, and even stipends to help sustain village educators who might otherwise be unable to continue. It’s the kind of practical, foundational support that keeps school communities moving forward.

Inviting Healing In

Healing happens in the small moments: a pair of shoes, a leadership conversation, a joyful training session, a student who feels seen. That’s what Heal a School is all about.

This is the kind of work that reminds me why I stayed in education for so long—and why, even in retirement, I can’t imagine walking away from it. It’s not about programs or platforms. It’s about people. And the quiet, steady power of care, connection, and community.

What might change if every school day, staff meeting, and leadership conversation started with one guiding question: How can we bring healing into this space?

Whether you’re a school or district leader, a teacher, or a parent, I invite you to reflect on what healing could look like in your context. Where is there an opportunity to listen more deeply, to meet a basic need, or to make someone feel like they belong?

The views in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of CASEL.

Thomas Santo is a dedicated educator and mentor with over 40 years of teaching and leadership experience. He spent more than 20 years as a special education teacher and 21 years as an elementary principal, guiding his school to national honors as a National School of Character and a PTA National School of Excellence. A leader in SEL, he was named World Leader on SEL Day 2021, serves as a National Evaluator for Character.org, and is the TEFL Kuwait SIG Special Education Chairperson. Santo has also served as an adjunct professor at Rutgers University. He has received numerous grants, including those from NAESP, Sustainable Jersey, and the Inclusive Schools Network, to support his innovative educational initiatives. His international work spans five continents—from school exchanges in England, Turkey, and Singapore to mentoring educators in India and Pakistan. Connect with him on LinkedIn, where his insights and leadership have built a network of over 13K followers.

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• Beyond Borders: An International Service-Learning Experience
• Still I RISE: Innovative Work at Da Vinci RISE High School
• The Power of Collaboration: Tales from the SEL Fellows Academy

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