Hays Post
The Hays school district has named two new principals who will take over schools in the fall.
Tom Albers, assistant principal at Hays High School, will become the new principal at Hays Middle School. He is taking over for Craig Pallister, who is retiring.
Kerri Lacy, a fifth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary School, will take the position as principal at Lincoln. She is replacing Elaine Rohleder, who is also retiring.
Albers graduated from Fort Hays State University in 1988 with bachelor of science degree in mathematics. He taught math and coached football, basketball and track at Pratt High School for 13 years.
He was assistant principal for one year at Pittsburg High School before joining HHS as an assistant principal. He said he decided to move to Hays to be closer to family.
He has been an assistant principal at HHS for 16 years.
His wife, Tina, works as a USD 489 preschool teacher. Her program is also housed at Hays High.
His children include Mackenzie, Kord, Adyson (currently a junior at HHS), Brenlynn (currently a sixth grader at Hays Middle School), and Brogan (currently a third grader at O’Loughlin Elementary School).
“I am excited to be part of the Falcon family,” Albers said. “The middle school has a great tradition of excellence and outstanding teachers and staff. I am looking forward to being part of that great tradition.”
Lacy began her teaching career straight out of college at Kennedy Middle School in Hays. Many of her students at Kennedy are now Lincoln parents.
She taught at Kennedy for 13 years before moving to Solomon in 2004. She and her husband moved their family to Solomon so she could become the principal at the elementary school there.
Her first two years there, she was the K-6 principal, and then the district moved the sixth-grade students to the middle school, so she was the K-5 principal.
After three years, she took over as the middle school principal also. When she completed her ninth year, her husband took a job back in Hays. She returned to the classroom, one year at Hays Middle School and then her last five years have been in the fifth-grade classroom at Lincoln.
“I am so blessed to able to continue being part of the Lincoln family as the principal,” she said.
Lacy and her husband, Brian, have two daughters. Kelsey attended Lincoln School until the family moved after her fourth-grade year. Kelsey just completed her bachelor’s and her master’s degrees at Northwest Missouri State University where she was also a member of the volleyball and track teams. She has recently taken a job in Kansas City.
Lacy’s youngest daughter, Bailey, is a senior at Thomas More Prep-Marian. She will be continuing her education and her softball career at Highland Community College next fall.
“After 24 years of having kids in our house, Brian and I are soon to be empty nesters!” she said.
“Although I will be the new principal at Lincoln, I will not be new to being a school leader,” Lacy said. “I am so excited for Mrs. Rohleder as she begins the next chapter of her life with retirement. I am sure she will be a huge support as I take over in July. I can only pray that I am half as successful at Lincoln as she has been. I am excited to continue as part of the Lincoln family.”