Wilgus: "... high school students will cease employment once they are back to school"

WESTFALL TWP -  The Delaware Valley School District Board was asked to consider changing the starting date of the school year. President of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau President Carl Wligus asked the board to consider starting the school year after Labor Day for the next three years.  Labor Day will fall on September 1, 2, and 3 for those years.

Wilgus is asking all school districts the same thing in Pike, Wayne, Monroe, and Carbon Counties.

Pocono Mountain received the pitch earlier this week, but deferred a decision.

Wilgus cited the reasons behind the request as being economic and social. He said that many businesses in these counties are tourist driven. They need to have their student employees work during the Labor Day weekend.

“Many high school students will cease employment once they are back to school. They have many commitments once the school year begins,” he explained.

Anthony Manzinonie, representing Woodloch Pines, said that 50 percent of their revenue is dependent on the summer weeks. The biggest revenue is usually the last two weeks of August, to include the Labor Day weekend.

“We lose around 125 staff because students must return back to school before Labor Day”, Manzinonie said.  “We cannot offer all the programs to our guests because our  staff has to leave to go back to school.”

Davis Chant, of Chant Realtors, said many business owners tell him they cut business back 20 to 30 percent because of losing  high school employees.

It was mentioned that some businesses now ask students when they have to be back to school on their questionnaires. One local business hires more students from New York and New Jersey than Pennsylvania because they can stay through the Labor Day weekend.

The consensus of the school board members was that they would need to hear from parents and students before considering starting school after Labor Day.