By Vincent Landolfi Jr.
RED BANK – For the first time in over a quarter of a century, Red Bank Catholic High School has a new principal. Effective July 1, Karen Falco, previously the vice principal and now in her 41st year at the parochial institution, was elevated to the post. In conjunction with Falco’s promotion, former principal Robert Abatemarco was named the school’s first president, after almost half a century as a teacher, guidance counselor, director of guidance, vice principal and most recently principal of RBC since 1995.
“The president-principal model isn’t something new,” Abatemarco said, “but it’s new for here. This plan moving forward, besides the president-principal model, incorporates a (faculty) leadership academy and a director of innovative learning and design to put together new and inventive curriculums that ready our students to further their education in ways that we didn’t even imagine a decade ago.”
Abatemarco described his new position with great passion and enthusiasm. “The president’s role will primarily be focusing on marketing, public relations and significantly enhancing the endowment with a foundational approach to raising money. It involves a seed-planting and cultivating approach so that Red Bank Catholic will have the ability, for the long term, to change the question from ‘How are we going to do it?’ to ‘What is it that we are going to do?’ when it comes to the overall student experience and the infrastructure of our campus.”
After 20 years as a teacher of mathematics and 20 more as an administrator, Falco is positioned to help lead RBC further into the 21st century, while continuing to face the challenges of a pandemic-affected student body and community.
According to the tag team of Abatemarco and Falco, this plan was in motion over two years ago but was derailed by COVID-19 and the unprecedented obstacles the virus caused for educational institutions, administrators and faculties worldwide. With the smoke finally beginning to clear, and with the 2021-22 school year rapidly approaching, many could wonder why these two longtime educators and administrators decided to embark on this new journey rather than taking a well-deserved retirement.
“Both of us just care so deeply about this school and its mission that we decided we can move ahead at this point and implement this plan and strategy that we believe in so strongly,” Falco said. “We want RBC to be poised to continue well into the future. There are people here that we believe will be able to help us do that and that’s the reason for the leadership academy. It will allow some of our educators who have a passion for RBC academics, extracurriculars and the whole ball of wax to become the next leaders of the school.”
Because of their established working relationship, both Falco and Abatemarco predict the transition to their new posts and the implementation of the new hierarchy will be virtually seamless.
“Karen and I have actually been doing this for some time now anyway, it’s just that with the approval of Monsignor Rosie (pastor of St. James Church) and the bishop, the system is now codified,” Abatemarco said.
At some schools that utilize similar administrative arrangements, the president is often out of the school and away from the campus. Abatemarco said that will not be the case at RBC.
“I like the juice of being around the students!” he said. “I feed off that fervor and the energy of everyone in our building, even though my primary focus will be on the long term.”
For Falco, her time at Red Bank Catholic and her contributions to the school’s advancement since she was hired in 1980 represent a sense of tremendous pride. “The school has continually moved forward academically and that has always been important to me,” she said. “A lot of little things that people might not notice, but that contributed immensely to our students’ experiences here have been established as well. For example, we have made a conscious effort to increase hands-on learning as well as develop cross-curricular educational plans where disciplines like history, religion and art can share the learning experience.”
RBC’s new principal is also a huge proponent of the school’s engineering program and capstone educational approach where students are encouraged to think critically and develop real-world skills such as public speaking, goal-setting and media literacy.
“Our people have proven, over the 27 years that I’ve been here, that if it’s a good idea and worthwhile to the school community, they’ll support it,” Abatemarco said.
And by putting together their combined years of experience, Abatemarco and Falco have forged a partnership that will spearhead the future of Red Bank Catholic High School.
This article originally appeared in the Aug. 19-25, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
