After serving at Westlake as interim principal since May 31, Steve Ramsey was confirmed by the Eanes ISD Board of Trustees to the position of principal at Westlake. The confirmation, at the Board’s Dec. 13 meeting, was unanimous.

Ramsey said that, especially around October and November, many questions started cropping up regarding where the position was headed. Now that he is no longer under the title of interim, it clears up a lot of those questions.

“I think it really helped everybody kind of say ‘OK, he’s here, he’s going to be here, and here we go,’” Ramsey said. “It settled a lot of uncertainty in other people’s minds.”

Ramsey said his priorities haven’t really changed as a result of the decision. He wants to continue focusing on the everyday well-being of the students. This includes minor things, such as upgrading water fountains, to also looking at how the teachers interact with students.

“Priority-wise, I think it’s still the same thing,” Ramsey said. “I really think it’s making sure [the students] have the best school experience each and every day. We’re going to look at doing different things to enhance the environment, little things like new water fountains where the water is actually cold. But that improves [students’] quality of life every day. It’s also making sure the teachers are doing the best they can inside the classrooms — they’re acknowledging the [students] who are doing great and working with the ones who aren’t.”

Ramsey has visited the sophomore, junior and senior English classes throughout the last few weeks, emphasizing the uniqueness of Westlake. He wants the school to continue to stand out in the coming years.

“I kind of have the same mantra, ‘We’re unique for these reasons, and we’re going to keep being unique for these reasons,’” Ramsey said. “We’re going to make sure we do that.”