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Show GUV, Inc. Officials Ask Later Opening Of "Local Schools A group of citizens representing agriculture, industry, Chambers of j Commerce and Greater Utah Val- ; ley, Inc., has met with each of the i Nebo and Alpine School Districts Boards of Education asking that the school be started two weeks later in the fall and run sufficiently sufficient-ly later in the spring to meet the state's school requirement. The reasons presented for this were very concrete. Wo are an agricultural ag-ricultural valley growing specialized special-ized chops which are especially adapted to our climate, soil and labor and form a large part of the valley's economy. They, therefore, feel that school schedules throughout through-out the valley should be arranged to meet agricultural needs as nearly near-ly as possible. The facts presented were : Several of the most highly perishable per-ishable crops must be harvested during the 1st to 20th of September. Septem-ber. One or two days time in har-veisting har-veisting means the difference between be-tween a. loss and profit to the grower, the canner, the laborer and the merchant on peaches, tomatoes, to-matoes, canning corn, cucumbers and other minor crops. Most of these crops are harvested and canned can-ned by students and teachers. Two weeks extra pay to the boys and girls, in many instances, means the difference between going to school or not. In the spring there are few jobs, for students until the middle or latter part of June. As a consequence, a student getting out of school in May has to lie around idle for from two to four weeks; teachers who depend upon agricultural agri-cultural or canning jobs, likewise. The labor bureaus claim there are three times as many jobs for these people in September as there are in May. When school starts in the fall the canneries report that they lose 1-3 to 1-2 of their help, which means that a large amount of their perishable farm commodities are lost. One cannery reports that it hires from ten to as high as 25 teachers who all lose 1-2 a months pay if school starts early in September. Sep-tember. If the farmer fails to get the last of these crops harvested at the right time, the profit on his whole season's work is gone. He cannot buy groceries, clothing, hardware, furniture or what-have-you. We must keep in mind that all the money earned by students and teachers and housewives working in canneries is spent at home. All of it stays right here. In addition, the canneries add materially to our economy. So the idea of opening school late and closing late is definitely def-initely not a whim or far-fetched one. Affecting our economy as materially ma-terially as it does, there are very few living in thi valley who would not benefit. Laying aside the economies econ-omies of the idea, what effect does it have on the child? Is he better off learning to work or wondering how and when to play? Is he creating or is he destroying; is he helping himself and family or is he in mischief causing concern? Surely we need not say more on that. Nebo School District has set its schedule for beginning school not before September 15th; Alpine School District has it under advisement. advise-ment. The problem has not yet been discussed with the Provo School Board. |