The superintendent of Eanes I-S-D sent a letter home to parents on Friday asking them to help ensure the safety of all students in the school district.
It says earlier this week, the district became aware of activities at a home in the community that may have jeopardized the safety of some Westlake High School students.
The letter offers no additional details about the home or what activities happened there, but it says, "Once we became aware of this situation, we had conversations with students and families, provided counseling and immediately began working with the proper outside agencies."
The letter also encourages parents to reinforce the importance of making smart choices to their children.
Here is the letter from Dr. Tom Leonard in its entirety:
Dear Westlake High School Parents & Guardians:
In the Eanes school district it is our desire to always have safe and healthy environments on our campuses. In addition, we want our students to make wise and healthy choices during school, outside of school hours, and in the broader community. We consider our parents as partners in helping us ensure the safety of all of the children in our school district. It is with that spirit and context that I write to you this afternoon.
As hard as we try to educate our students, we know that at times, youth make unhealthy/ unwise decisions both on and off campus. In some cases, those decisions may lead to actions that could result in legal consequences or violate the District's Student Code of Conduct.
Earlier this week, we learned that in at least one of our community's homes last weekend, activities occurred that may have jeopardized the safety of some of our Westlake High School students. Once we became aware of this situation, we had conversations with students and families, provided counseling and immediately began working with the proper outside agencies. Please know that when the school district is made aware of these situations, often we are not in a position to share exact details; sometimes it is because of federal privacy laws or because it could impede an active investigation. In some cases, when situations occur after school hours or off our campuses, we may not be privy to all of the facts or details.
I want to assure you of the following: First, we work to be proactive in encouraging our students to make healthy and wise choices. Our staff care about your children and work to guide students to make good choices. Second, if a child needs our help, we will always be available to offer the resources that our District is fortunate to possess, including professional, trained, certified and qualified counselors and social workers. Third, in all situations where we learn of activities that should be reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) or law enforcement, we will be forthcoming with that information to those appropriate agencies. Further, we will always cooperate with CPS and law enforcement. And, it is important for the community to know that we have solid relationships with all of the law enforcement jurisdictions in our area, including the Travis County Sheriff’s Department, and the Austin, City of West Lake Hills and Rollingwood police departments.
As parents, you play a critical role in the equation to help keep the children of Eanes ISD safe, and you help to reinforce the importance of making wise and healthy decisions. After school and on weekends, we rely on you to make sure your homes are places where safe and healthy activities occur, just as you rely on us to do so on our campuses. Working together with the same objective, we can be a unified force sending a consistent message to our students.
Please help us. Please talk to your children about healthy choices and proper behavior when they are in social settings with their peers; encourage them to talk to a trusted adult if they see something that makes them uncomfortable. Please work to create and ensure that the same safe environments that we strive to achieve at our schools also exist in your homes. Please let us, or other appropriate agencies, know when an incident occurs, so that we can partner with you to counsel children and help those agencies within our community fulfill their responsibilities.
We have a wonderful community. We have the same objective and goals when it comes to the health and safety of our children. We will do our part and we thank you for doing yours.
Have a safe weekend.
Thank you,
Dr. Tom Leonard
Superintendent of Schools