Round Rock ISD police chief leaves role, claims district did not report student sexual assault to police

Round Rock ISD police chief leaves role

A letter from Round Rock ISD police chief Dennis Weiner to the district superintendent reveals new details about his sudden departure from the department.

ROUND ROCK, Texas - A letter from Round Rock ISD police chief Dennis Weiner to the district superintendent reveals new details about his sudden departure from the department.

The letter, posted to Facebook by Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees member Danielle Weston, claims that a 5-year-old student was sexually assaulted on a school bus by another student, and that RRISD police were not notified by any district employee until three days after the incident.

In the letter, Weiner claims that the student was assaulted on Friday, April 12. Weiner says the assault was witnessed by the bus driver, and that a transportation supervisor was made aware of the incident and reviewed camera video from when the assault occurred.

Weiner says that neither the bus driver nor the supervisor reported the incident to the police.

The letter goes on to say that campus leadership had reviewed the video on Monday morning, April 15, but did not notify the police. Weiner claims that the multiple leaders within the district, including Round Rock ISD superintendent Dr. Hafedh Azaiez, were made aware of the assault, but none of them notified the police.

Weiner also claims in the letter that Dr. Azaiez did not notify him of the assault in person at a one-on-one meeting on Monday.

The letter says that, because the police were not notified of the assault, the victim had to ride the school bus again on Monday morning with the subject who assaulted her the Friday before. The letter also says that subsequent investigation revealed that the victim and one other student had been previously assaulted on the same bus route by the same subject in the recent past.

Weiner says in the letter that he has lost trust in district leadership to ensure that he and the Round Rock ISD police department can protect the students and staff of the school district.

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The letter was posted in full to Facebook by Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees member Danielle Weston, who included a joint statement from her and fellow board member Mary Bone:

On Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 5:13 PM, the chief of police of the Round Rock ISD police department sent the attached letter to the entire elected board of trustees. Our (Weston and Bone) reaction was shock and concern for the students, families and staff in our schools. We are sharing this publicly now because we refuse to be party to any possible cover-up that involves the safety of children, or anything else. The truth is that we do not know whether the allegations from the chief of police are true or not. That is not for us to determine. Our duty resides in a loyalty and commitment to the safety and protection of the children that parents entrust to us in our schools. That is what has driven us to share this. As parents ourselves, we know that parents have a right to know what is going on in their schools and to make their own decisions on how to best protect their children. They can only do this if they are fully aware of what is going on.
We are also now disclosing publicly that shortly after we received this letter, we officially reported it to the Williamson County Sheriffs Department, a law enforcement agency. As elected trustees in the state of Texas, we have an obligation to report to law-enforcement if and when we believe we have knowledge that a crime may have been committed.
Additionally, minutes after receiving this letter, Weston insisted (in writing) to current board president Amber Feller Landrum that she immediately call a special meeting to address the accusations in the letter and to obtain advice from counsel on what the board should do. She refused.
Again, we refuse to be party to a possible cover up regarding the safety of every single child in RRISD.

— Joint statement from Danielle Weston and Mary Bone

Round Rock ISD responded to Weiner's allegations with the following statement:

"Our commitment to the safety and well being of our students has never wavered. The content of Mr. Weiner’s letter inaccurately represents personnel matters and an incident involving minors. All incidents involving students have been addressed in accordance with applicable law and district policy."

The Round Rock ISD Board released the following statement:

At the May 16, 2024 Board meeting, the Board of Trustees was briefed in closed session about a personnel matter involving a letter that Mr. Weiner sent to the superintendent. Mr. Weiner’s letter referred to a serious incident involving children that is under current investigation and to other personnel matters related to Mr. Weiner’s employment with the district.
The May 16th meeting was attended by six Trustees but Trustee Bone voluntarily left the meeting before the Board discussed the matter and related materials in executive session. All seven Trustees were aware prior to the start of the meeting that Mr. Weiner’s letter was the subject of agenda item K4.
We want to assure the community that the Board has reviewed Mr. Weiner’s letter and is aware of the incidents raised in that letter. The safety and security of the students and staff of Round Rock ISD are of the utmost concern, and the Board will fully cooperate and support any resulting investigations.
Finally, we are deeply disappointed in the actions of two of our colleagues that they chose to release an un-redacted letter that could potentially compromise the privacy of minor children and related investigations.

— Round Rock ISD Board Officers

Round Rock ISD police chief out after report

Round Rock ISD's police chief is gone, but the school district is not confirming what prompted Dennis Weiner's departure.

Lauren Griffith will now serve as interim police chief. She became a sergeant in 2021 and has served students and staff since 2020.

The leadership changes come following the release of a scathing report against Chief Weiner, which was circulated this week on social media.

The report, conducted by a private investigator in October and released on Tuesday, interviewed staff working in the district police department following complaints filed against Chief Weiner.

The private investigator was hired by Dr. Azaiez, apparently withou the knowledge of the Board of Trustees.

According to the report, the department's climate and culture are "extremely negative," describing the department as "toxic" and "chaotic" with "no two-way communication."

The report claims there is a "lack of professional communication by the Chief" including inappropriate comments made to and about other officers in the department.

The report also says that officers are often in downtown Round Rock and not on their respective school campuses, which could cause an issue if a security threat occurs.

Round Rock ISD announced the personnel shake up in the police department on Tuesday, the same day the report was made public.