This week's school calendar reads "ER," but there's no emergency.

Schools will dismiss two hours early Thursday, not because of inclement weather or a water outage. The early dismissal is part of Pitt County Schools' early-release dates. Delilah Harris, assistant superintendent of human resources, said the days are designed to give teachers time to take part in training programs, workshops, seminars or other professional-development programs.

The school system has scheduled four early-release dates this school year. Other shortened-instruction days include Oct. 11, Feb. 29 and April 29.

Across the county, school cafeterias, after-school programs and other businesses that cater to children and youth are gearing up for the changes that will come from the calendar shift.

Pitt County Schools Child Nutrition Director Sharon Kinion said school lunches Thursday and on the other three early-release days will be packaged "to go."

"They may take their bag back to the classroom or they may eat it in the dining room," she said. "Everybody's going to get a chance to eat, one way or another."

Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation, which offers after-school programs at 13 of the county's 35 schools, will offer extended care at those sites on Thursday.

After-School Coordinator Courtney Pruett said staff members are trying to plan extra activities for a longer day.

"This is our first year with early release," she said. "It's going to be new for us.

"We can't go anywhere because it's not a full day," Pruett said, adding that field trips are generally scheduled for students who attend the program on teacher workdays. "Some people are going to get movies and do movies and popcorn. It's not too much more time."

Two extra hours apparently is enough time to work in a trip to the dentist's office. At Eastern Orthodontics and Pediatric Dentistry, the extra after-school openings created by the early release have already been filled.

"Parents have noticed (the early-release dates)," Randy Beamon, practice administrator, said. "Most of the parents, they know those days in advance, and when they're in here, they go ahead and try and schedule."

Still, he said, it's too early to tell whether early-release days will bring the kind of business increase the practice generally experiences during teacher workdays. On any given teacher workday, he said, the office sees 200 patients or more, compared to about half that number on a regular school day.

"Those times will fill up when the kids are out of school," he said. "Even though it (a dental or orthodontic appointment) is an excused absence, if we can get kids in when school is not in session, we understand that's better for parents and children."

For parents who have children enrolled in an area preschool program, the early-release schedule may pose a transportation challenge. Preschool programs at many area churches dismiss at noon, which is about the time the bell will ring at several area elementary schools Thursday.

"Some of our teachers will have to leave early to pick up their own children," said Beth Hinson, director of the preschool and after-school programs at St. James United Methodist Church.

For some parents, the early-release schedule comes with a price. St. James, for example, opted for a small tuition increase this school year to cover what will amount to eight extra hours of child care. Full-time students attending Pitt County Community Schools and Recreation after-school programs will not see an increase; however, part-time students will pay $15 a day for early-release days, compared with $25 for teacher workdays.

Unlike teacher workdays, which are generally scheduled to bookend a weekend, three of the four early-release dates fall on a Tuesday or Thursday, with children returning back to the regular school schedule the following day. February's early-release date occurs on a Friday.

Harris said when parents were given a chance to comment on the proposed calendar last school year, most simply asked that not all of them occur on the same weekday.

"They're not on the same day every time," she said. "We did try to accommodate that as much as possible."

Features writer Kim Grizzard can be contacted at kgrizzard@coxnc.com or 329-9578.