Mehlville Senior High School students and teachers received an unexpected day off from school Friday because of a water-main break on Lemay Ferry Road near the school.

The school’s water service was shut off at roughly 6 p.m. the evening of Feb. 8 while repairmen worked to fix the water-main break.

Deputy Superintendent Eric Knost made the decision to cancel classes at 4:30 a.m. Friday after learning that water to the school had not been turned back on and no definite timetable was available for the water service to be restored.

“We were hopeful that the break would be fixed as crews worked throughout the night; however, we learned early this morning that it was not,” Knost stated in a news release issued Friday by the district.

“For health and safety reasons we will not put 2,000 students in a building without water,” he added.

Besides the cancellation of classes at Mehlville High Friday, the school’s annual Academic Achievement Night program scheduled for the previous night was postponed at the last hour due to the loss of water service.

Mehlville High School Principal Vince Viviano will meet with his staff to determine a makeup date for this year’s Academic Achievement Night program.

No decision has been made at this time regarding a makeup date for canceled classes at Mehlville High School. All other schools in the Mehlville School District conducted classes on Friday.