Superintendent Gearl Loden, whose Twitter account has 1,794 followers, hoped for more before he let Tupelo Public School District students know school was canceled for Wednesday, Feb. 25.

“I was hoping this snow would be worth at least 2000 followers,” Loden tweeted about 9 Tuesday night, hours after his account was barraged with pleas from students to cancel school because of the predicted snow. A winter storm warning, set to begin at 6 a.m. Wednesday, is expected to bring with it 1-3 inches of snow to Tupelo.

Two minutes later, Loden tweeted “No school Wednesday. Be safe.”

Praise from his followers included “YOU’RE A TUPELO LEGEND” from @Phanton_DaGhost and “@gearlloden for President of the United States 2016!!!” from Corey Kalish.

Due to the early dismissal on Feb. 20, March 19 is now a full day for TPSD. The district will use one of the built-in make-up days for the time missed on Feb. 25.

In the meantime, Anna Merritt Roberts has a new campaign to help Loden acquire a larger Twitter audience, as well as weather assistance from WTVA meteorologist Matt Laubhan.

“@gearlloden needs @WTVAMatt on speed dial. #getloden2000followers,” Roberts wrote.