Easton School Passes 2-Hour Super Bowl Delay: ICYMI

EASTON, MA — Snow and Tom Brady appear to be the only forces capable of causing 2-hour school delays for Massachusetts students in the winter. With Brady and his New England Patriots taking on the Atlanta Falcons Sunday night in Super Bowl LI, Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School in Easton agreed to push back the start of school Monday by two hours to give students and staff more time to (hopefully) celebrate the Patriots' fifth Vince Lombardi trophy.

School officials issued a challenge to students and staff Friday, encouraging them to deck themselves out in Patriots gear. They certainly delivered, and the administration agreed to the 2-hour delay Monday.

"The show of support by the staff and students ... made this an easy decision," school officials said in a statement.

The Super Bowl starts at 6:30 p.m. and usually ends around 10:30 p.m. Patriots fans who were in school in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2015 can remember rough Monday mornings after celebrating the team's Super Bowl wins.

Ketchup maker Heinz gave its employees Monday off after the Super Bowl and started a petition to make the day a national holiday.

"We can all agree that going to work the Monday after the 'Big Game' on Sunday is awful," read the petition."So as far as we’re concerned at Heinz, we as a nation should stop settling for it being the worst work day of the year."

The Patriots (14-2 in the regular season) are slightly favored in Sunday's game in Houston. But the Falcons (11-5) are coming off a blowout win over the Green Bay Packers in the conference championship game.

Super Bowl 2017

• Heinz Wants To Make The Monday After The Super Bowl A National Holiday
• This 7-Year-Old's Question At Super Bowl Media Day Nearly Brought Tom Brady To Tears
• Poll Says America Loves To Hate New England Patriots; Tom Brady Polarizing
• Martellus Bennett Says He Would Likely Decline White House Invite If Pats Win Super Bowl
• NFL Commissioner Says He'll Return to Foxborough...If Invited
• Intentional Grounding: NFL Scrubs Donald Trump From Super Bowl Transcripts

Photo: Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School students celebrate a 2-hour delay Monday after the Super Bowl. (Credit: Southeastern Regional Vocational Technical High School)

This story was first published February 3, 2017