SPRINGFIELD -- A faculty member in the math department will become interim principal at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School for the 2023-2024 school year.

Teresa Saner will take over June 1 for Kara Rapacz, who resigned last month after 16 years with SHG. Her tenure includes six years as SHG principal.

Rapacz was the first lay principal of SHG or one of its preceding institutions, Sacred Heart Academy, Griffin High School, and Cathedral Boys High School. SHA joined with the all-boys Griffin in 1988 in forming SHG.

Rapacz told Heartland Newsfeed that she is pursuing other opportunities but hasn’t accepted a position yet.

Saner, 51, was in the first graduating class of SHG in 1989.

Before coming to SHG, Saner taught math in higher education and had administrative experience at Springfield College in Illinois, Benedictine University Springfield, and Lincoln College.

“I am beyond grateful for her willingness to assume this position,” said Sister Katherine O’Connor, a Springfield Dominican, who is stepping down as SHG president after 18 years.

There was no immediate word on a successor for O’Connor, who announced her departure in November.

Saner received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Saint Louis University. She and her husband, Dave, will have a freshman and senior at SHG next school year. The Saners are members of Christ the King Parish.

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