I will have a weather update by 2 pm and may make an early decision. Thank you, Diane Duplissis for the cartoon! pic.twitter.com/HJHtPlshKL
— Bill Webster (@LewistonSuper) January 26, 2015
LEWISTON — With forecasts of a historic blizzard storming up the coast, Lewiston and Auburn school superintendents on Monday declared Tuesday a snow day.
“This is the first time time I’ve called off school the day before,” Lewiston School Superintendent Bill Webster said. “We always waited for the last minute. More than once, the forecast has been different in the morning than the day before. But in this case, snow is falling south of us.”
It’s a safe bet that conditions won’t be safe for school with all the blizzard warnings, he said.
Lewiston will also close all school offices, its central office and adult education on Tuesday to keep everyone safe, Webster said.
Auburn School Superintendent Katy Grondin said she has only called off school the day before on one other occasion.
“We’re also closing day care, child care, adult ed and school offices,” Grondin said. It’s pretty clear cut that travel won’t be safe, she added.
Auburn city officials are holding emergency meetings and planning how to handle public safety and treat roads, Grondin said. They have recommended that everyone who can stay off the roads during the blizzard should do so, she said.
Both superintendents said they don’t yet know whether there will be school on Wednesday. That will depend on when the storm ends and how much snow has fallen, as well as snowdrifts and conditions of roads and sidewalks.
Webster said he’ll make the decision Tuesday night.
“Stay tuned; I don’t have the authority to call a late start,” he said. “We’ll see if Auburn has a delayed start.”
If conditions are unsafe early in the morning, school will be canceled, even if the weather clears up later on.
“It’ll be all or nothing,” he said.
Grondin said she won’t decide until Tuesday afternoon after talking to Auburn Public Works and finds out how the city is keeping up with the snow.
“I don’t want to put any pressure on the city,” she said.
Tuesday’s snow day will be the third for the winter; two were used in December, Grondin said. Most school districts allow for five snow days each year.
At the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College, classes are canceled on Tuesday, as are classes in Portland and Gorham. Online courses will be held as scheduled unless notified by the instructor.
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