__________________ Nassau _________________
HERALD
TEMPLE ISRAEL, LAWRENCE
IS HERE TO STAY!
115 Years of Empowered Traditi on, 6 Generations Strong
All the news of the Five Towns
5K Run & Family Walk in A.B.
Page 3
Page 10 AUGUSt 24 - 30, 2023
140 Central Ave., Lawrence
, NY 11559
516-239-1140
tilny.shulcloud.com
$1.00
122352 11113028
Vol. 100 no. 35
Backpacks and goodies
Bus driver shortage drives big changes in job recruitment tricts and also transports students to private schools, recently took to Facebook to share the With the return of school will incentives the company is offercome the return of school buses, ing new employees, in addition and finding and hiring enough to touting the emotional appeal drivers will be a challenge for of the job. “Many drivers have referred many bus companies. The Five Towns-based Independent Coach to their passengers as ‘my kids,’ Corp. is among the companies which indicates that the position can be personally looking for employrewarding as well,” ees. the Facebook post The shortage of reads. bus drivers was an The company ongoing problem has called on comeven before the coromunity members to navirus pandemic. apply, noting that a Independent Coach familiarity with the and the Guardian area would be helpBus Company, based ful for the job. in Oceanside, have Corey Muirhead, continually run executive vice presiadvertisements lookdent at Guardian, ing for drivers, and BRiAn PRoBSt safety director, agreed. “Obviously, offered incentives. we want someone “We use approxi- Independent Coach that, geographically, mately seven bus companies to complete all of our knows Long Island well,” he runs,” Jeremy Feder, assistant said. Brian Probst, Independent superintendent for business and operations for the Lawrence Coach’s safety director, said that school district, explained. “We the problem isn’t just a shortage add multiple schools on runs, of drivers, but rather a range of just because we need to make variables that come into play, sure we have enough drivers to complicating the challenge of route coverage. drive the buses that we have.” “You don’t always have a Feder said that the driver shortage has worsened since the shortage of bodies — you have a pandemic. Independent Coach, shortage of the correct licenses, which serves the Lawrence and you have a shortage of people Hewlett-Woodmere school disContinued on Page 9
By PARKER SCHUG
pschug@liherald.com
P
Parker Schug/Herald
Henna Ross will be a librarian at the Peninsula Public Library after nine years as a volunteer and a page.
Longtime volunteer is now Peninsula’s new librarian By PARKER SCHUG pschug@liherald.com
The Peninsula Public Library, in Lawrence, is adding a familiar face to its staff. Henna Ross, 34, a Woodmere resident, started her career at the library as a volunteer nine years ago. Ross recently earned a master’s in library information science, and she will become a new librarian at PPL after applying for her professional certificate. Before she got involved at the library in 2015, Ross spent the academic year at Gan Chamesh Preschool in Woodmere, working as an assistant teacher with 2-year-olds. When school was over that year, she wanted a way to occupy her time, so she volunteered at the library that she grew up visiting.
“I went there every single day of the week,” Ross said of what became her summertime routine. “Started at 10 in the morning, and most days I would stay until 5. I wanted it to be a regular job, just (to) get me out of the house.” Ross was initially a helping hand for the summer reading program, which at the time was run by the previous children’s librarian, Carolynn Matulewicz. Later Ross took on more tasks, like organizing books on shelves and working in the children’s programs. “She just fit right in,” Matulewicz, now the library’s director, recalled. “I didn’t have to tell her what to do — she knew what to do, and she was excellent.” Despite her experience and her love of Continued on Page 11
eople are talking to other people, and they’re excited about the pay bump.