‘No notice for families:’ Wu says state didn’t authorize BPS schools to close Friday ‘until the day before the parade’

City and state officials are pointing fingers at each other for the last-minute school cancellation announcements that left families scrambling in Boston last week amid planning the Celtics championship parade.

On Wednesday, the city sent out notice that just four schools would cancel classes on Friday,  each one on the parade route.

Then on Thursday, BPS announced school would be canceled district-wide. It was only scheduled for a half day, anyway.

Mayor Wu blamed state officials for the last-minute changes.

“We really didn’t get confirmation until the day before the parade that we had authorization to close schools, and then there was no notice for families that the last day of school would actually be canceled for safety reasons,” Wu said on WBUR’s Radio Boston on Monday.

But state officials said the district, in fact, had all the authority it needed.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education told the Herald Tuesday that the “decision was ultimately up to (BPS) Superintendent Skipper” and directed questions back to BPS.

Wu said the city decided “earlier in the week”  that the right thing to do would be to close all BPS schools Friday, but the state only initially authorized four schools to close.

“We had been working to try to get some state approval to be able to not hold school, given the extraordinary delays and traffic and everything that would be of concern whenever the parade would be,” said Wu. … “Because it’s not just the district’s decision on their own and does involve lots of coordination, it was very difficult to get that. We’re used to, I think, the city and the state in these conversations, are used to a much longer time frame to have them.”

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“It took a while to get that conversation settled,” Wu added. “And left us less time than we — than anyone would have liked for families to make arrangements.”

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