Lowell High School warms up in time for students to start school day

LOWELL, Mass. — UPDATE: The operations director at Lowell High School, Rick Underwood, said the heat was working Thursday morning.

That announcement came after students were warned to dress in layers because portions of the ailing building may have been without heat Thursday.

Underwood said parts of the building didn't have heat Wednesday - and work was done on the malfunctioning boiler. That boiler was fully working around 11 p.m. Wednesday night, helping to heat up the building overnight.

High school parents and staff received a robo call Wednesday night from Head of Schools Marianne Busteed. During that call, she said the city’s Land and Building Department has been at the school for two days to make sure the heat was up and running.

But it didn’t go smoothly.

“Although they worked until late in the evening, there are potentially a few areas that may not be fully functioning tomorrow, November 9,” she said in the call. “Please have your child dress in layers, especially in the freshman academy.”

The issue comes as residents in many locations are waking up to temperatures in the 20s and 30s. It also come amidst continuing controversy over plans to rebuild or replace the high school.

The city has been divided over whether to expand the current high school in its downtown location, or to replace it with a new, $334 million school across the city.

The debate has raged on for about two years.

And people are so closely divided that they city’s mayor and school superintendent wrote a letter to the Massachusetts School Building Authority asking them to not take any action on this issue until after this week’s election, which could have shifted the balance of the city council, which previously voted 5 to 4 to build a new school.

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