The Diocese of Belleville recently announced a change to the administration at Gibault Catholic High School as a president will be joining the campus to work alongside the principal on a number of matters.

As a press release from the diocese explains, Katherine Robben was appointed to the president position by Bishop Michael McGovern.

Her appointment is effective July 1.

Originally from the Belleville diocese, Robben currently serves as the assistant principal of Romero Academy at Resurrection School in Cincinnati, Ohio. She also serves as a board member of Balinda Children’s Foundation, a nonprofit caring for needy children in Uganda.

She earned an Associate Degree in Arts and Sciences from Kaskaskia College, a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and a Master of Nonprofit Administration Degree from the University of Notre Dame.

The release further notes Robben “will be responsible for providing strategic leadership, overseeing fundraising and public relations and promoting the Catholic faith, identity and values among all the people the school serves.”

“I am very pleased to welcome Ms. Robben to serve as President of Gibault Catholic High School,” McGovern said in the release. “The collaboration between a president and a principal has been a successful model in many Catholic high schools. Having Ms. Robben in this new role will strengthen Gibault.”

Diocese of Belleville Chief of Staff Mary Fleming offered additional insight into this change to the school’s structure.

She said the president position is intended to focus on more of the external matters of the school, including enrollment, fundraising and community engagement.

The principal, then, focuses on internal concerns such as day-to-day management of the school, curriculum and faculty or student matters.

“The president works toward the future while the principal works toward the present,” Fleming said.

The principal at Gibault is Sarah Lanham who assumed that role at the start of this current school year.

Fleming also said that the diocese opted to adopt this model for Gibault as a substantial number of other Catholic secondary schools in the country – Fleming indicated 56 percent – have adopted it and seen positive results.

“Since a lot of Catholic schools are doing this around the country – and they do this, a lot of the schools in St. Louis – we’ve been looking at that model to use in our high schools,” Fleming said. “We’re starting it at Gibault and hoping that really works for academic success and improvement and really making our Catholic faith central to the education like it should be.”

Fleming added that Mater Dei Catholic High School in Breese had shown interest in similarly adopting this president/principal model.