With many schools in western Maine opening Wednesday in hot, humid weather, athletic directors are re-evaluating games and practices.

On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for much of Maine for Tuesday and possibly Wednesday. The forecast is prompting athletic directors to reconsider activities.

Lewiston Athletic Director Jason Fuller said practices will be shortened and athletes given more breaks Tuesday and Wednesday.

Auburn Athletic Director Todd Sampson said he will keep an eye on the heat index and student athletes. Games and practices will be curtailed if needed, he said.

In a notice to parents Monday, Saint Dominic Academy administrators Don Fournier and Marianne Pelletier said with the heat index expected to reach 100 degrees, sports and practices are canceled Tuesday, and students will be dismissed at noon Tuesday and possibly early on Wednesday.

St. Dom students returned to school on Aug. 22.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Jensenius said the heat advisory is for southern and coastal Maine, not Androscoggin County. That could change, he said.

“Androscoggin should be near advisory levels, hot and humid during the day,” he said. For Androscoggin County “we’re looking for high temperatures Tuesday to be near 90 and the heat index close to 95.”

Wednesday is expected to be a degree or so warmer, Jensenius said. 

Auburn Superintendent Katy Grondin said all city schools have air conditioning except the high school. “Edward Little High School is the concern.”

On Wednesday, freshmen and upper-class mentors will go to school for the freshmen mentoring day. Grades 10-12 begin Thursday.

“We will be checking in to make sure students have plenty of water,” she said. There’ll be fans running.

In Lewiston, grades one to nine begin school Wednesday. Grades 10-12 begin Thursday, and kindergarten on Tuesday, Sept. 4.

Superintendent Bill Websters said that on opening day Wednesday, “We need to be sensitive to the temperature, rotating kids through air-conditioned libraries or other air-conditioned offices.”

With dozens of school buses rejoining the morning commute, police and transportation officials are cautioning motorists to look out for students crossing roads, and to stop for buses with red lights flashing. 

“Pay attention to the big, yellow buses picking up kids,” said Peter Ouellette, terminal manager for Hudson Bus Lines, which transports Lewiston students. Motorists who fail to stop for buses despite flashing red lights “is a big, big issue.”

Lewiston Police Department Lt. David St. Pierre said motorists must adhere to National Safety Council guidelines to keep children safe.

Those guidelines include yielding to stopped buses and pedestrian crossing intersections. Also, drivers should never pass a vehicle stopped for pedestrians. Research shows most children who died in bus-related accidents were ages 4 to 7, were walking and were hit by a bus or a motorist passing a stopped school bus.

In Auburn, a lot of students will be walking to school Wednesday; motorists need to slow down, interim Chief of Police Jason Moen said.

“Pay attention to the speed limit in the school zones, ” Moen said. “Also be sure to obey the crossing guards as they cross our littles across the street safely.”

Police will be out in full force monitoring school zones, he said.

When a school bus has its red lights flashing, motorists should give the bus several car lengths on both sides of the road unless it’s on a divided highway, officials said.

Problem spots are four-lane roads, including Center Street. When a bus is stopped with red lights flashing, “all four lanes are required to come to a stop,” Moen said.

Lewiston Transportation Director Butch Pratt is asking parents who are aware of construction near their homes “to call their school ahead of time to to let us know. We try to stay up to date, but this is a busy time of year” and they could miss a few construction sites that could snarl traffic.

“A call before opening day might give us enough time to figure out an alternate route,” he said.

(Sun Journal file photo)

When schools open Wednesday, motorists need to pay attention to:

• The speed limit in school zones. “Also be sure to obey the crossing guards as they cross our littles across the street safely.” — Auburn Interim Chief of Police Jason Moen.

• The big, yellow buses picking up kids. Motorists who fail to stop despite the buses’ red lights flashing “is a big, big issue.” — Peter Ouellette, terminal manager for Hudson Bus Lines, which transports Lewiston students.

Second-grade teachers Katie Chicoine, left, and Allison Bowie put reading level labels on books in Chicoine’s classroom at Park Avenue Elementary School in Auburn on Monday. Most Lewiston-Auburn students return to school on Wednesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

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