By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–Two Staples High School students, who were instrumental in getting the state to help pay for personal emergency communication devices in schools, now want to make sure their school district will take advantage of the new law.

Zander Bauer and Elijah Falkenstein, co-founders and presidents of the Staples High Make Our Schools Safe club, appeared last week before the school board during the public comment section of its meeting.

They asked that the district prioritize the adoption of panic buttons as part of a comprehensive security action plan.

No greater impact

“We believe there is no greater impact you can make than to install panic button systems,” said Zander Bauer, a Staples senior. “In an emergency, time equals life.”

Elijah Falkenstein, also a senior, told the board that panic buttons equal reassurance, preparedness and ultimately survival.

“Texting our parents won’t save lives … panic buttons will,” Falkenstein said. The students said their hope is that wearable panic buttons will be a top priority and a panic button pilot program can go into action as soon as possible.

Security evaluation underway

The school board has met behind closed doors at least twice this fall to review a lengthy security evaluation conducted of its schools. So far, neither the report nor the actions the board plans to make schools safer have been shared with the public.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said in an email this week that he is enthusiastically supportive of the idea of wearable panic buttons.

“That would be great,” he wrote with five or six exclamation points. “I’ve shared my recommendations on this before, so it is not necessarily reserved for confidential meetings.”

Scarice said the district has already applied and been approved for partial state funding for the systems. His idea is to put the system in the high school to start.

“We are working with the Board of Education (on) an … action plan,” said Scarice. In conjunction with the Westport Police Department and a vendor who conducted a security evaluation of the district.

Best case scenario, Scarice said that the action plan would come to a vote sometime in November.

If approved, put the system out to bid

Once approved, the plan would be put out to bid, Scarice said. He is unsure of the cost.

Some of the plan may involve funding requests, some not, Scarice added.

At the school board meeting last week, Falkenstein told the board wearable panic buttons hold the potential not only to save lives but provide peace of mind to students, parents and educators.

The Sandy Hook generation

Falkenstein and Bauer both told the board that they have been living in the shadow of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting since they were in kindergarten. 

“That event forever shaped our experience in school and our entire generation,” Bauer said. “We have never been in school without shelter in place or lock down drills.”

The pair cofounded the Staples Make Our Schools Safe, or MOSS, which is a chapter of a non-profit organization founded in response to the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting.

Stop the bleed

MOSS advocates for school safety measures like silent panic alarms. They also support providing “Stop the Bleed” kits to schools, seven of which the Staples MOSS chapter has purchased.

The small kits are designed to help control severe bleeding in emergency situations before professional medical help arrives.

Bauer said the kits are installed at Staples and that teachers have been trained in how to use them. She’d like to see similar kits in Westport’s middle and elementary schools. Each kit costs about $70.

Staff, not students, would wear the buttons

The emergency buttons are something staff would wear on lanyards around their necks like their ID badges.

Falkenstein said panic buttons were in place in 2024 when a school shooting occurred in Georgia. Four lives were lost in that incident, but officials say the devices allowed for faster response by local police and likely saved lives.

Buttons activated a quarter million times

In the 2024-25 school year, Falkenstein said panic buttons were activated more than 265,000 times across the country, not only in cases of shootings but other emergency situations. Connecticut is one of at least 10 states passing laws to encourage their use.

When pressed, a school panic button sends an instant signal to authorities requesting an emergency response. It can also be programmed to notify school staff and trigger different alerts for different types of emergencies. Some systems can also trigger school cameras to hone in on the situation as it unfolds.

Recent Westport Journal coverage of Westport schools

• Carla Eichler: teaching problem-solving through art
• Cell phones banned at Staples 
• School board requests supplemental funds for capital projects
• Fifth grade scoring drop worries board

Linda Conner Lambeck

^{_{Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.}}