photo by: Lawrence school district

Quentin Rials, principal of Lawrence High School

UPDATED 5:15 P.M. MAY 19

Lawrence High School Principal Quentin Rials has died, according to a district statement shared with parents, staff and families.

“He cared deeply about the well-being of students and the LHS staff, and he revered the Lawrence High School community and traditions,” the district said in the statement. “On behalf of the Board of Education and district leadership team, we are deeply grateful for his service, leadership and the lasting impact he made on LHS and our district community.”

Rials had been the principal at LHS since 2023, and he was an alumnus of the high school. He helped lead the Chesty Lions to the Class 6A state basketball championship during his senior year in 1995. Rials served in numerous roles in the Lawrence school district before landing the principal job. He was the assistant principal at LHS for four years and a learning coach at West Middle School for two years, where he was also interim principal for a time.

“Quentin loved LHS,” his family said in the statement. “It was his dream job. 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.'”

But teaching wasn’t Rials’ only passion. Before his teaching career, he was active in the legal field. He earned a law degree from Washburn University and even worked as an assistant public defender in Sedgwick County.

After leaving his legal career, Rials, who has a master’s degree and a doctorate from KU, served five years as a math teacher and coach in Fort Worth, Texas. It was then he made his way back to Lawrence.

When former Superintendent Anthony Lewis announced Rials would fill the principal position at LHS in 2023, he told the Journal-World there was nobody better for the job.

“The feedback was everything from ‘go ahead and remove the interim tag’ to ‘Dr. Rials is the best thing that has happened to us in a while,'” Lewis said in 2023. “There was a veteran teacher that said this has been the smoothest start to a school year in their 20 years here. It was just a lot of positive feedback.”

While no cause of death was included in the district’s statement, the Journal-World sat down with Rials in 2023, when he shared with the newspaper that he suffered from a serious heart condition the year before.

As the Journal-World reported, after suffering what’s known as an ascending aortic aneurysm, Rials underwent open-heart surgery, during which he had a stroke, followed by a nearly three-month recovery.

On Tuesday, the district said members of the Lawrence High School mental health team and the district crisis response team will be available at school on Wednesday during finals to provide grief support for students. The district said it will share information about memorial observances when it becomes available.