ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — In WNY, many students are no stranger to snow days, but only a few schools in the area can say they get an adjusted school day due to a Bills' game.
'Bills days' are not a new thing for Hamburg, or Orchard Park school districts though.
The Buffalo Bills will be facing off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Thursday night for Buffalo's first Thursday night football game in Orchard Park this season.
The game kicks off at 8:15pm, but fans will take to the Highmark Stadium lots when they open at 3:15pm, causing traffic in and around the area to really ramp up.
Hamburg High School is only nine minutes away from Highmark Stadium, and Orchard Park Highschool is just six minutes away.
Hamburg Central School District has decided to dismiss all their students 20 minutes early on Thursday in order to avoid the game's traffic.
"This plan was developed with the Orchard Park police chief. We communicated the early dismissal plan with families a few weeks ago for the first time and have been sending reminders via text, email, social media, and our website." Kayla Green the Hamburg district's public relation's director told us here at WGRZ.
Being closer to the stadium Orchard Park has scheduled a half-day for their students and had placed it in the calendar beforehand so parents, and faculty could plan ahead in advance.
Julianne Becker Orchard Park's public relations director told us "The half-day was scheduled in our original calendar for traffic and safety reasons. It is simply proactive planning for the safety of our students and families."
Both school districts website's also have alerts reminding those of the change in school day hours which can be seen below.
