Quentin Rials, principal of Lawrence High School and proud Chesty Lion, has died. He was 49 years old.
Rials graduated from LHS himself in 1995. He was a member of the basketball team that won the state championship that year.
“’Quentin loved LHS. It was his dream job,'” his family said in a statement the school district sent to faculty members on Tuesday. “He knew the love and care the LHS team had for him and appreciated the cards, notes, well wishes, prayers, visits, and everything you did to support him these past weeks. Quentin often spoke of his LHS team saying, ‘they are good people.’”
Rials earned a bachelor’s degree at Baker University, his juris doctorate at Washburn University, and a master’s degree at the University of Kansas.
Rials worked as an attorney for six years in private practice, both on behalf of a multinational corporation and for the state of Kansas, before he joined Lawrence Public Schools. He also served five years as a middle school math teacher and coached in Fort Worth, Texas.
He served as a learning coach at West Middle School for two years before initially joining the Lawrence High School administrative team in 2018.
Rials was named interim principal of West Middle School for the 2022-23 school year, then interim principal at LHS for the 2023-24 school year.
“As a Chesty Lion, and having served LHS as an assistant principal, I know that this school is a pillar in our community,” Rials said in the June 2023 announcement from the district. “I am very eager to return and help continue the legacy of excellence already established.”
By November 2023, he was named to the principal position permanently. Then-Superintendent Anthony Lewis said in appointing Rials that he “has the heart of a Chesty Lion.”
“He has strong relationships in the LHS community and understands the importance of continuing to build upon those connections and further develop his leadership to support the continuous improvement of both staff and students,” Lewis said at the time.
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