Mandating Post Labor Day School Starts is Wrong
Sen. Gerald Hocker really wants schools to start after Labor Day. I mean he really really wants this. First was the Legislative Task Force to Study Post Labor Day School Starts back in 2014. Then Hocker introduced legislation in 2015 to require all schools to start after Labor Day. It passed the Senate but went nowhere in the House. So, we fast forward to 2017 and guess what, Hocker introduces new legislation, S.B. 18, to require all schools to start after Labor Day.
The basic argument for doing wanting to do this is that the Delaware economy may get an economic boost by starting school after Labor Day. When I read legislation like this one it sends up several red flags. For instance, why is a Republican introducing legislation to control local school districts? Doesn’t this run against basic Republicans beliefs?
After some research, I found the task force’s final report over at a blog called Farmer Dan’s Daughter. We are now hosting the pdf as well. The blogger’s basic reason for supporting a late start for schools is:
All of our seasonal help typically returns to school about two weeks before the Labor Day holiday. This includes adults and teenagers. Labor Day is our biggest holiday and August beach traffic has increased the past couple years. Retaining even just a few seasonal employees for an additional week or two would help us tremendously as our family has pick to up the slack over the remaining months of September and October.
If you read through the task force’s final report, they really focused on tourism. The expert testimony that showed the benefits that Maryland and Virginia received from a late start were from tourism industry officials. Though they might have some numbers at their disposal, it is kind of like asking the fox how to defend the hen house.
The big argument seems to be that the Delaware beaches are losing workers before the Labor Day weekend. But since the Cape Henlopen and Indian School Districts already start after Labor Day, high school workers are probably not the issue which is stated in the final report — it’s the disappearance of college student workers that is the real problem. (This is stated in the final report.)
If the argument is that Delawareans aren’t traveling to the Delaware beaches during the Labor Day weekend, this is poppycock as Delawareans only make up 12% of Delaware’s tourists (pdf). New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York individually create more tourism in Delaware than First Staters and collectively they are at 62.3% of all tourists. Collectively Virginia, North Carolina, and Massachusetts have more tourists in Delaware than Delaware.
Though the task force recommended starting Delaware schools after Labor Day, it was only by a majority of one in the final vote. Other big problems with this mandate are that educators are against it and parents “will likely be opposed to a change” — this is all spelled out in the final report as well.
This bill should not be passed.
Give the kids a break and let them have some fun
Many jobs at the beach require student employees to commit to working Labor Day weekend. It’s not really enforced because employers have no leverage – as the endless “help wanted” signs displayed all summer long show.
Starting after Labor Day wouldn’t solve the “problem” with college kids and high school kids who play sports – which start practice in August. I don’t have a huge problem, personally, with starting after Labor Day, but Hocker’s bill isn’t Think of the children.
But, the main reason finding people/kids to work at the beach is difficult is that there aren’t many rentals they can afford. The small, older, affordable cottages are gone. The only benefit of working at the beach is living at the beach. That’s gone, and so are the workers.
They ship in eastern European indentured servants. He doesn’t even think of his own kids..
kids have too much free time…smoking dope and not studying!! need them off beaches and get their butts back in school to LEARN
Legalize it!
@SussexDem: Are they also on your lawn?
Gotta love that Farmer Dan blogger. The school year for 120,000 children and their parents should revolve around Farmer Dan’s lack of foresight about hiring help for two weeks at the end of each summer.
Jesus, these people.
Gee, that’s interesting as starting school after Labor Day seemed to work for say, 50 years or so. As for the beach let them pay what the job is worth and be prepared to fight off the applicants, the golden age of pathetic wages in lower Delaware is on the wane and cannot die soon enough. And for what it’s worth I hereby second Mouse’s Legalize It!, and watch the hotels and casinos fill up over night. Sure, Carney will cry sweet tears of aisle reaching butt hurt … but who gives a you know what?
I’m so ready for the warm weather and tourists to come back. And women my age. It gets boring being the youngest or only straight guy in a crowd lol
I’d rather be debating the merits and drawbacks of year-round school than toying around the edges of starting times. Especially when the relevant school districts already do what Sen. Hocker wants them to do.
Really, any time schools come up for debate, we need to be asking what’s going to produce the best outcomes for students. Starting classes later isn’t going to change anything for them, so starting times really need to be decided based on the needs of the community. Me, up here in Prices Corner, could give a shit less about Farmer Dan’s poor planning.