Parents gathered outside Westport’s Staples High School today to show support as students across the United States walked out of their classrooms in a protest calling for gun control legislation after the Parkland shooting. Instead of walking outside, Staples students gathered in the school field house for a protest meeting. No outsiders, including parents and press, were permitted to attend. There was a heavy police presence outside the school. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer today said schools will be open on a three-hour delay.

After an early morning survey of streets and a meeting with the emergency management team, she tweeted: “Buses may run a little more slowly — please be patient. 

“We will reach out to a small number of families for whom alternate transportation plans will be in place.”

Palmer added in an email: “Parents may opt not to send their students today if specific situational conditions around their home create hazards. All storm-related absences will be considered excused.”

Westport Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer said tonight Westport schools will be on a three-hour delay Friday.

That decision will be reviewed with a confirmation email to parents at 8:30 a.m., she said.

Palmer sent this email to parents:

Dear Families of Westport Students,

By Roy Fuchs

Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer addresses the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club today. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Roy Fuchs for WestportNow.com

Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer told the Westport Sunrise Rotary Club today she is recommending additional safety steps following this week’s incident involving a student who threatened violence at Staples High School.

“The safety and security of our students comes before anything else,” she said at the club’s weekly breakfast meeting at the Westport Inn.

Were it not for a proactive student who heard something upsetting and reported it, “We might have been in a really different place,” Palmer said. She also praised the response of the Police Department.

Palmer said that Westport had invested tremendous resources in upgrading the outsides of the buildings, in communications, and in security personnel long before she arrived, many of the steps taken after the Sandy Hook shootings in December 2012.