With a winter storm expected, Regional School Unit 16 decided Tuesday to start its winter break early.

The three-town district said on a social media post that, “some of our bus drivers wrote Santa a letter, asking for no school” on Dec. 22.

“They got their wish! There will be no school” Wednesday, the district said, though it blamed the “predicted timing of icy conditions” rather than a hard-to-refuse request from Santa Claus for the move.

Students and teachers in Poland, Mechanic Falls and Minot won’t return to the classroom until the new year.