LEWISTON — Parents of Lewiston students are making different plans for early school dismissal Wednesday.

Dismissal on eight Wednesdays this year will be two hours earlier to give teachers and educational technicians more time for professional development.

Lewiston High School will be dismissed at noon, Lewiston Middle School and Montello Elementary at 12:30 p.m., and Martel Elementary at 1:10 p.m.

Principals have sent multiple notices reminding parents to make alternative child care plans.

Early-release days are common in other school districts, but “Lewiston has never done it,” Martel Principal Steve Whitfield said.

Martel sent parents a newsletter and a flier; The school did robo calls Monday night to parents.

“We’ve been announcing it every day,” Lewiston High School Principal Shawn Chabot said. “We did robo calls Monday night.”

Parents were to get another robo call Tuesday night.

Martel parent Bridgette Bernier said her second-grader is excited about getting out early on Wednesday. But for Bernier, it means juggling.

“I’m going to be able to pick her up tomorrow,” she said Tuesday, but her work schedule will mean her daughter’s grandparents may have to get her on the other early-release days.

Waiting to pick up his granddaughter at Martel, Eugene Smith said the family “had things planned Wednesday, but you have to change your day. That’s all there is to it.”

Because it’s new, Superintendent Bill Webster said principals expect a few situations they haven’t anticipated. There will likely be students who weren’t picked up at bus stops and returned to schools.

“How we do on these eight days will go a long way in the right school calendar model we have for future years,” Webster said.

The School Committee voted in March to hold eight early-release days this school year. The committee struggled with not spending more money in the budget by adding more teacher time to the school year versus minimizing time students lose in class.

Initially, committee members wanted after-school programs at schools during early-release days to keep students in school.

“But that proved insurmountable given the number of students we have,” Webster said.

A number of child care facilities have extended programs to handle earlier-arriving students, Webster said.

Students won’t go home hungry.

“Everyone will have lunch” before dismissal, Webster said.

Topics teachers and ed techs work on during the early-release days will vary. One is restorative practices, an alternative to punishment “which doesn’t change behavior,” Webster said.

Restorative practices help the offender better understand how the negative action hurt others. Schools that have adopted the practice have seen dramatic reductions of problem behavior, Webster said.

At Martel, teachers Wednesday will work on improving skills to deal with student discipline and behavior management. A common problem is young students “who don’t know how to play well together, how to play safe and be respectful,” Whitfield said.

Taking turns and sharing are not something that a growing number of children are good at, he said.

Lewiston High School teachers will work on implementing proficiency-based learning, Chabot said. He said he doesn’t know where his high school students will go after the noon dismissal. Hopefully they’ll be in the library or at home studying, he said.

“We want to keep our kids in school as much as possible,” he said.

But to improve learning and give teachers time to absorb more demands, “there are professional development needs of the faculty,” he said. “It’s a push-pull.” 

Early-release dates for Lewiston schools:

During the 2016-17 school year, schools will be dismissed two hours earlier on Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 16, Jan. 11, Feb. 15, March 8, April 12 and May 17.

During those afternoons, teachers will work on professional development. While common in other school districts — the Auburn School Department holds weekly early-release Wednesdays most weeks — this is the first time Lewiston schools are holding early dismissals for teacher workshops.

School employees, including bus drivers, will keep an eye out to ensure young children are not left alone if a parent fails to show up.

“If, for example, a parent is always there to meet the child but is not there, we will return that child to school and call the parent,” Superintendent Bill Webster said.