An immigrant from Portugal at age nine, Mr. Santos is proud of the educational opportunities he received in Massachusetts. His experiences as a first generation American have been at the core of his dedication to educational excellence and making sure that all people have an opportunity to achieve to their full ability.

Currently serving his tenth year on the Ludlow School Committee, Joseph Santos has served three terms as its chair and two as its vice chair. He has, for the past eight years, been a representative to the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative of which he is the current chair. Santos chaired the Ludlow district's Superintendent Search Committee and participated on four principal search committees.

For the past year, Mr. Santos has served on the MASC Board as president, having previously served as president-elect, vice chair, secretary treasurer and chair of MASC's Division V. In that role he reinvigorated the unity and mission of the Division, hosting several highly successful Division programs in the Connecticut Valley. Santos has chaired the Policy, Finance, and Personnel Committee and currently oversees the Resolutions Committee. The program he organizes on “Roles and Responsibilities of a School Committee Chair” has been an annual Joint Conference highlight.

At the community level, he was a member of the completed Ludlow High School / Middle School Renovation and Expansion Committee. He is a former five-year vice chair of the town's Finance Committee, and former 14-year elected representative to Town Meeting. Active in numerous local organizations, his passion, other than educational and local governance issues, is being a soccer referee.
Santos has two college-age children, and with his wife, manages a 30-year-old hairstyling business in Ludlow. He is a former hairstyling instructor and currently is in his 23rd year as a religious education teacher.