Joseph Vannicola, 14, said he knew Wednesday that once school let out he was going to walk downtown from Central Junior High School to hang out with friends.

That’s typical for Vannicola and many other junior high students released early from school on Wednesdays.

“It’s something to do,” he said. “It’s better than going home and watching TV.”

Children out Wednesday afternoon said they enjoyed the time out of school to socialize with friends and to shop. But some downtown shop owners say the early release from school has created a nuisance for businesses.

“It’s not every kid, but we have had some problems,” said Kyle Billings, owner of Fun and Games, 816 Mass.

Billings said most children who have come in his store haven’t been a problem. But in some instances, he’s called parents complaining that their children were causing trouble in his store. Billings said parents had been very cooperative when he has called and eager to find a way to remedy the problem.

Melissa Padgett, manager at Third Planet, 846 Mass., said she scheduled an extra person for Wednesday afternoons because of children from junior high schools coming into her store. The store usually loses money because the children rarely buy goods.

“They swarm in and there’s usually some horseplay involved,” Padgett said. “It’s not even all of them. There’s usually about 10 to 15 who are just obnoxious, and it makes this frustrating.”

Since 1998, children enrolled in Lawrence’s public junior high and elementary schools have been released about 1 p.m. on Wednesdays to allow teachers time to collaborate and plan lessons as well as to receive training to improve their teaching.

The time is valued by administrators and teachers, said Central Junior High principal Ted Juneau.

Some downtown business owners dislike early release Letter to the Editor: Store-sitters (02-15-05)

“I think the benefits we’re finding are that our assessment scores have gone up, and I think that is partly the result of our teachers having this time,” he said. “It provides us an opportunity to plan and work better.”

Juneau said he could understand why some downtown retailers may be frustrated. But no one has ever called the school to complain. He said school officials strongly encouraged parents to enroll their children in after-school programming.

Several schools in Lawrence provide opportunities for after-school activities, including Central, South and West junior high schools.

Jennifer Ybarra, after-school program manager at Central, said about 60 to 100 children participated in after-school activities, and Jake Schmitz, South after-school program manager, said the program has about 60 children on average.

But those numbers ebb and flow depending on the day, and the students attending the after-school programs tend to fluctuate even more on Wednesdays.

“We try to do specific things on Wednesday to try and keep them here,” Ybarra said. She said her staff held dance-team practices on Wednesday, and an entrepreneurial team was created to teach children what it takes to run a small business and help them understand some of the frustrations business owners may face. It’s an attempt to try to improve relations, Ybarra said.

“I know I see kids downtown from the schools, and I can understand that frustration they may have,” she said.

Schmitz said they also did some different programming on Wednesdays to try and keep the children at the school and engaged. Schmitz said they sometimes planned trips to go swimming, ice skating or to the zoo.

“Sometimes you have an idea and the kids think it’s great and all of them go,” he said. “Other times, you think you have a great idea and they aren’t interested. But this is a great program to keep kids out of trouble.”

Lawrence Police Capt. Steve Cobb said there was an increase in police calls on Wednesdays in the downtown area compared with other days of the week.

“But we’re not seeing an increase in calls really because of the early release,” Cobb said. “Most of the calls are coming between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m.”