AUBURN — A controversial School Committee plan to start middle and high school classes late on Wednesday nearly delayed a $1 million bond package aimed at building repairs.

City Councilor Joshua Shea proposed delaying a vote on the bond package until the council’s next meeting on July 16. Shea said the School Department’s proposed Wednesday schedule made a delay a good idea.

“This is not a debate about mass customized learning or how much time is taken away from instruction,” Shea said. “I’m talking about the ultimate economic effect this will have on people that need to work.”

The School Committee is scheduled to vote July 11 on changing the arrival time for Auburn Middle School and Edward Little High School students from 7:30 a.m on Wednesdays to 9:30 a.m.

Teachers would use the additional two hours each week for professional development.

Auburn elementary schools already release their students early for teacher development, and Shea said the combination would make it hard for parents with children in both elementary and middle school to have any kind of work schedule on Wednesdays.

“This is a radical change to the structure of the school’s schedule,” Shea said. “We don’t have a lot of say in what they do, but this is an economic development issue.”

Shea proposed delaying a vote on the school bonds until the city could figure out what economic impact the schedule change would have on residents.

The $1.06 million in interest-free bonds would be used for school maintenance work — boilers and tennis court paving at Edward Little High School, roof repairs and security lights at the Walton School, skylight repairs at Auburn Middle School, and heating and air conditioning at Franklin Alternative School.

Shea was able to convince Councilors Belinda Gerry and Leroy Walker to postpone the bond vote, but that was not enough to pass. The measure to postpone failed 3-4, with Councilors Tizz Crowley, Robert Hayes, Mary Lafontaine and David Young opposing the delay.

“I do not support the late start, but I don’t see how it’s germane to this order,” Lafontaine said. “I don’t want to play games like other councils have done where we are holding hostage things that are not connected.”

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