St. Oscar Romero Catholic Secondary School


St. Oscar Romero Catholic Secondary School, operated as Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School until 2015 and Blessed Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School until 2018 is a Catholic high school located in York, Ontario, a municipality of Toronto. The school is a member of the Toronto Catholic District School Board, formerly the Metropolitan Separate School Board and is named after Salvadoran archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980. The school building was opened in 1967 as York Humber High School by the Board of Education for the City of York when the board merged into the Toronto District School Board in which the school is leased to the MSSB/TCDSB since 1989. St. Oscar Romero's school motto is "Community, Justice, and Knowledge".

History

Patron

Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador and became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador, succeeding Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on March 24, 1980.
After his assassination, Romero was succeeded by Monsignor Arturo Rivera. In 1997, a cause for beatification and canonization was opened for Romero, and Pope John Paul II bestowed upon him the title of Servant of God. His canonization was finalized in 2018. He is considered by some of the unofficial patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador and is often referred to as "San Romero" by Catholics in El Salvador. Outside of Catholicism, Romero is honored by other religious denominations of Christendom, including the Church of England through the Calendar in Common Worship. He is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs who are depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London, a testament to the wide respect for him even beyond the Catholic Church. In 2008, he was chosen as one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy by the Europe-based magazine A Different View.

School

Throughout the 20th century, Catholic education in the City of York was served by nearby Roman Catholic schools ran by the religious orders: Chaminade College School to the north, Bishop Michael Power for boys and St. Joseph's Islington for girls to the west and Loretto College School to the east. Predominantly, Catholic children in York attended elementary schools in the Metropolitan Separate School Board and later attended public high schools such as York Memorial Collegiate Institute, Vaughan Road Collegiate Institute and George Harvey Collegiate Institute.
When the province extended Roman Catholic high school funding beginning 1985, the MSSB began to search for an existing public school site in York. In May 1988, the Metropolitan Toronto School Board and YBE agreed to lease the York Humber High School on Humber Blvd. On September 7, 1989, York's first Catholic high school, now known as Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School, opened its doors to 200 grade 9 students, 18 teachers and three support staff members. The new wing was erected in 1991 and constructions/alterations of the former York Humber building began in November 1992 costing at $12-million. The school was officially opened and blessed on May 7, 1995.
With the namesake beatified in May 2015, the school was renamed to Blessed Archbishop Romero Catholic Secondary School shortly afterwards. After the canonization of Oscar Romero, it was renamed to St. Oscar Romero Catholic Secondary School on October 16, 2018.

Chaplaincy

All of Romero students are required to take a course in Religious Studies each year, but the faith formation does not end there as its chaplaincy program that organizes numerous and varied retreats for every grade level. As well, Romero's chaplaincy team provides many opportunities for their staff and students to continually develop their faith life through worship as a community both in small and large group settings.
Being a Catholic community, they are committed to fostering the Christian values and principles inspired by their patron St. Oscar Romero.

Academics and extra-curricular activities

St. Oscar Romero is a semestered secondary school from grades 9–12. It offers various academic programs such as English, geography, mathematics, science, civics, history, and technological education in academic, applied or open levels.
Since the turn of the 21st century, Romero's technological program consists of six computer labs, free Wi-fi, Chromebook and iPad labs, Macintosh lab for the media/communication technology program, and app courses. The school also offers an additional course for Grades 10 to 12 in applications and/or programming. It also has the woodworking shop located in the southwestern side of the school for its construction technology program.
Romero participates in many athletic programs under the "Romero Raiders" banner such as volleyball, basketball, golf, tennis, badminton and baseball as well as intramural sports. In addition, the school also offers many clubs and committees for students such as the Student Council, Romero Clean-Up, NYH Food Bank, Arts Alive, Share Christmas BRINGO and several other clubs.