AUBURN – Early-release days may be popular with teachers and administrators, but they’re not with parents.

Auburn schools send K-6 students home at 11:30 a.m. every Wednesday so teachers can plan lessons and meet with parents.

Because of complaints from some parents about day-care issues and lost class time, the practice will be reviewed at a School Committee meeting Wednesday, Sept. 5, at Auburn Hall.

According to school calendars, Lewiston and Auburn will have the same number of teacher workshop days: seven. In addition, Auburn will have 26 half-days for teacher planning.

That means Auburn students will have the equivalent of 13 fewer class days.

Interim Superintendent Tom Morrill said teachers this year will use Wednesday afternoons to work on a new social studies curriculum, upgrade the math program, expand science kits, look at student achievement and get technology training, among other things.

He believes those things will increase the city’s quality of education.

“What underlies everything is our desire to make sure students flourish in our schools,” Morrill said. “We want to make sure faculty can deliver on that promise.”

Others would like to see students in school on those afternoons. The issue is being brought to the School Committee by members Lane Feldman and Tara Paradie, who say they’ve heard complaints from parents.

Feldman believes the practice is hard on working parents and takes away too much class time from kids.

“Lewiston, Portland, Biddeford, they all go to school all day on Wednesdays. Why Auburn?”

When he declared his candidacy for School Committee, Feldman was approached by parents who wondered why Auburn schools sent students home early once a week.

Parent Amy Flowers was glad to hear early-release Wednesdays would be reassessed by the School Committee.

Her family manages well most of the time because her husband works at home, but when he has to go out of town, half-day Wednesdays become a headache, Flowers said. “We scramble.”

Feldman agreed, saying day care is the biggest reason many parents dislike the early-release program.

Most Auburn schools have day-care programs, but many parents try to work around school hours, Feldman said. They want to be there when their children get off the bus or come through the door.

On early-release Wednesdays, “there’s no way,” he said.

Feldman would like the policy changed, but that wouldn’t happen immediately, he said. Early-release days are included in the teachers’ labor contract. Any change would have to be negotiated, and it wouldn’t happen until next year or the year after.

Auburn City Councilor Ellen Peters, a mother of three, has heard complaints from other parents. She, too, favors a change.

It’s good to allow teachers time to work with each other on curriculum, Peters said.

“However, in this test-driven environment, the demands and regulations that teachers and children must meet are greater than ever,” she said. Auburn students may get fewer learning opportunities when they lose three-and-a-half hours of class time every week, she said.

School Committee Chairman David Das acknowledged that some parents don’t like half-day Wednesdays, but he praised the practice.

“There’s a real financial savings to the system,” Das said. Other school systems have to build teacher planning into the school day, which means hiring more staff.

Students are losing class time every week, but it is not hurting their education, he said. “They’re not losing content.”

Das, a father of two, said the policy has been in practice for decades, and that his children grew up with being released early every Wednesday.

He said it will be up to the School Committee to decide whether any change is needed.

Staff Writer Lindsay Tice contributed to this story.