Salem Lifting Parking Ban, Snow Emergency At 4 PM

SALEM, MA -- The city will lift the snow emergency and parking ban at 4 pm, but Mayor Kim Driscoll asked residents to keep their cars off the streets if possible. Driscoll updated the city's digging out efforts from the most recent storm in a Facebook post Wednesday morning. Officially, the National Weather Service is reporting Salem got 17.1 inches of snow while avoiding the power outages and coastal flooding that had come with earlier storms this winter.

Residents parked in school lots or at the Council on Aging lot on Broad Street are being asked to move their cars right at 4 pm so those lots can be cleared in anticipation of schools reopening Thursday after two days of being closed. Salem High School students who had been planning on participating in the national walkout to protest gun violence have recheduled it for Friday.

Other changes to the school schedule as a result of this week's snowstorm include:

• Due to the missed school days, report cards will be mailed home on Tuesday, March 20th, instead of this Friday. This will impact Collins, Bowditch, Bates, Horace Mann, Saltonstall and Witchcraft Heights.
• Parent conferences at Salem High School have been moved to Friday and will take place between 7:24 and 9 am. Students will have a two-hour delayed start Friday.
• The Senior Show has been moved to Sunday and Monday nights at 6:30 pm.
• The College Admissions Panel has been moved to March 20 at 6:30 pm.
• The course selection orientation night has been moved to March 21 at 6 pm for incoming ninth graders. The orientation for current ninth, tenth and eleventh graders will be at 7 pm on March 21.

"If you have snow related issues, please email snow@salem.com so we can try to address the issue. Thanks for your patience and cooperation as we work together to get Salem back up and running post-storm," Driscoll said.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).