Incoming Evanston Township High School Principal Quiana McNeal said she noticed a troubling pattern while working as a prosecutor in Minnesota: as students in her community fell behind in reading, they were more likely to drop out of school — and end up incarcerated.
That realization inspired her to pursue a different kind of justice: education.
“(I was) led by a sense of justice to enter the education field so that I could support students at the beginning in helping them learn how to read,” McNeal said. “So that we wouldn’t see so many of them grow into students who end up dropping out of school and then some of them end up in the prison system.”
A self-described “career changer,” McNeal became a special education teacher at North Lawndale College Preparatory High School in Chicago in 2012 and now serves as the director of curriculum and equitable practices at nearby Township High School District 214.
There, she aligns curricula to provide equal opportunities to all students and works closely with Associate Superintendent for Teaching and Learning Lazaro Lopez. As McNeal’s supervisor, Lopez said he has witnessed her ability to lead “with both vision and compassion.”
“Evanston Township High School is gaining not just a principal, but a powerful advocate for equity, learning, and student success,” Lopez wrote in an email to The Daily. “She’s more than ready to lead — and to inspire.”
McNeal will become ETHS principal July 1, succeeding outgoing Principal Taya Kinzie, who has held the position since 2022. Her selection was unanimously approved by the Evanston Township High School District 202 Board of Education at its April 7 meeting.
Board President Pat Savage-Williams said she is “extremely excited” about McNeal’s appointment and touted McNeal’s “positive, proven track record” of improving student experiences at District 214.
“She is very highly qualified (and) deeply in line with our district’s missions and values,” Savage-Williams said. “So we’re looking forward to working with her.”
Savage-Williams said District 202’s search process included multiple opportunities for feedback from students, teachers and community members.
McNeal will join ETHS as the district navigates federal executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in public schools. Superintendent Marcus Campbell argued DEI programs remain necessary and called the executive orders an “affront” to ETHS values at the board’s joint meeting with the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education in February.
McNeal said ETHS is a “pioneer in equity work,” and she plans to uphold District 202’s values by working to eradicate opportunity gaps and address increased mental health needs.
“I do believe that education is still one of the great equalizers,” McNeal said. “So by ensuring that students have a common experience, in terms of the quality of the education they’re receiving, we ensure in some ways that students are better equipped to navigate the complexities of the world.”
The district’s challenges are complicated, but they offer “powerful opportunities” to build and leverage strong relationships with ETHS students, parents and community partners, McNeal said.
McNeal said she hopes to collaborate and maintain an “open dialogue” with board members and Superintendent Campbell while taking a “learner’s stance” to better understand ETHS’s unique traditions.
“To me, there’s no more important work than the work of public education, and there’s no greater privilege than leading in a community like Evanston that so deeply values its schools,” McNeal said.
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Email: [email protected]
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