LEWISTON – Channel 6 mistakenly reporting Thursday that Lewiston-Auburn schools were closed was caused by “an honest error,” WCSH General Manager Steve Thaxton said Friday.

What happened was unusual, he added.

A school administrator who is not from Lewiston-Auburn entered a wrong code, Thaxton said. That kicked in a televised announcement that Lewiston-Auburn schools were closed when they were not, Thaxton said. He did not name the administrator.

The wrong information aired for seven minutes. As soon as the station learned about the error, that announcement was yanked, Thaxton said. And all those who received the station’s e-mail or text message alerts received “multiple corrections,” Thaxton said. “We were busy.”

What happened Thursday is far from the norm, he said. “I’ve been here nine years, and this has never happened.”

Meanwhile, school officials met Friday to look into concerns that some Lewiston children waiting for late buses Thursday were left outside in subfreezing weather. There were no reports of children waiting for late buses in Auburn, principals said.

Peter Alberda of Lewiston, the father of a 7-year-old girl who attends Montello Elementary School in Lewiston, said it was dangerous for children to be out so long “with the cold weather and the wind whipping.”

Alberda was with his second-grader at 7:15 a.m., when the bus normally arrives in a neighborhood behind Central Maine Medical Center.

By 7:30 a.m., no bus had shown. Some of the children, including kindergartners, were standing out without their parents, Alberda said. Many parents drop off their children at the bus stop and continue to work, he said.

Alberda called his daughter’s school and was told buses were running late because of the mistaken school-closing announcement. Alberda then called Hudson Bus, which provides busing for Lewiston. He said he was told many drivers saw the school closing and did not initially report for work. Hudson had to phone its drivers, wait for them to show, then send out the buses, Alberda said.

By 8:10 a.m. his daughter’s bus still had not shown, so he drove her to school. But some children waited for nearly two hours, he said.

Alberda said the Lewiston School Department should have done better. As soon as officials realized the mistaken school-closing announcement, it should have taken steps to ensure the safety of children outside waiting for buses. School officials could have sent someone by car to tell children standing outside the buses were late, Alberda said.

Lewiston school Superintendent Leon Levesque said Friday he was meeting with Hudson Bus Lines to look into the issue.

Lewiston School Committee Chairman Jim Handy said Friday that he does not yet know what happened, but children standing in the cold waiting for buses “is an important concern to be raised. We don’t want children being out there.” Conditions Thursday were hazardous with the cold temperatures and wind, narrow roads and high snowbanks, Handy said.

Hudson Bus Lines “is wonderful to work with,” he said. The school department does not have protocols for what to do when television school closings are wrong, and Thursday’s glitch caused much havoc.

The station should apologize and take responsibility for what happened, Handy said.

“I put the blame at the feet of Channel 6,” Handy said. Any media outlet “that seizes advertising revenue with school closings announcements has an obligation to get it right.”