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Instead, it was an employee's inadvertent pressing of the distress call that sent students and staff to hide in closets and saw police race to Rogers International School at 202 Blachley Road just before students were let out early Monday due to the coming storm, police said.
Officers who were at the school for an unrelated incident were approached by the principal who said the "Sara" button was activated and the school was going into lockdown, police Sgt. Kelly Connelly said.
The alarm indicated that it came from two rooms, 114 and 238, Connelly said.
"They first go to Room 114 and the door is opened by security and all the kids and the teacher are locked in the broom closet. The teacher said she hadn't used her pendent. They go to Room 238 and the same thing, everyone is locked in the closet and again the teacher said she hadn't activated it," Connelly said.
Officers formed a perimeter around the building and spoke to a custodian, who said the alarm that he carried had fallen to the ground while he was shoveling snow and as he picked it up to reattach to his belt he inadvertently activated it, Connelly said.
The school was in lockdown for about 20 minutes, Connelly said.
In an email, Sharon Beadle, a spokeswoman for Stamford Public Schools, said such incidents are a rare occurrence and the district cooperates fully with police.
Rogers International School, located near Chelsea Piers Connecticut near Exit 9 off I-95, is a “six- to-six” interdistrict magnet school with before- and after-school programs beginning at 6 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. The school provides the learning experiences for 850 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, according to its website.
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