Advertisement It's official! Massachusetts school gets late start for day after Super Bowl Share Shares Copy Link Copy

As a way to boost morale, show support for the hometown football team and as a practical matter, Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in Easton announced that there will be a two-hour delay for class to begin on the Monday morning after the Super Bowl. The Brockton Enterprise reports the regional school, which serves nine communities including Brockton, announced the two-hour delay on Friday afternoon. The school floated the plan earlier this week, saying the delay would be based on the amount of Patriots support on display in class on Friday. The superintendent of the regional school district, Luis Lopes, said the feedback was mostly positive when the idea was teased on Facebook on Thursday. "The show of support by the staff and students along with over 48,000 post reaches on Facebook made this an easy decision," the vocational school said in a Facebook post on Friday "Congratulations and go Patriots!" Class normally starts at 7:50 a.m. at Southeastern, but it would begin at 9:50 a.m. on Monday with the delay in place, Lopes said. Dismissal during the afternoon will take place as usual at 2:30 p.m. This will be the first time that Southeastern called for a morning-after-the-Super-Bowl delay. The regional district served by the vocational school includes Foxboro, where the Patriots play their home games at Gillette Stadium. Lopes told The Enterprise that the purpose of the two-hour delay is twofold. First of all, it's a source of pride, to come together and support the hometown football team as they head into the championship game. Second, Lopes said that statistics from previous Patriots Super Bowl years show that attendance is lacking on the days following the big game. Lopes also justified the proposed two-hour delay citing the fact that Southeastern has longer hours compared to many public schools in Massachusetts. At least 990 hours of core instruction are required by the state each year, Lopes said, and Southeastern is on pace to notch 1,100 hours of class time due to its extended days during the nonwinter months.