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HERALD All the news of the Five Towns
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New rabbi at the Brandeis School
Hearing the ‘heroes’ stories
Succeeding at work on deadline
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Vol. 98 No. 35
AUGUST 26 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
Where are the bus drivers? Recurring shortage is exacerbated by coronavirus pandemic noted that bus drivers transport more than 2.3 million children statewide each school day. The shortage of school bus Jeremy Feder, the Lawrence drivers in New York state that School District’s assistant began nearly four years ago superintendent for business and that now and operations, stretches across the who oversees discountry has contintrict transpor ta ued throughout, tion, also noted that and been deepened with bus drivers by, the coronavirus typically being p a n d e m i c. F ive older people who Towns school disare more vulneratricts are conble to Covid-19, they c e r n e d , a n d bu s might not be willcompanies are ing to retur n to aggressively their jobs quickly, recruiting drivers. even with new safeA shor ta g e of ty precautions. bus drivers could “There are conhave considerable cerns on a countryimpact, including wide and local level l e n g t h e n i n g s t u - MicHAEl — everywhere there dents’ bus trips as SPERBER are plenty of chalschool districts conlenges,” Feder said. solidate bus runs, Risks manager, “It is certainly a d e l aye d a r r iva l s Independent Coach concer n: if we’ ll and de par tures, have a suf ficient cancellation of field trips and amount of bus drivers to serextracur ricular activities, vice all of our runs.” increased costs as a shortage Dealing with the shortage is drives up wages, and the possi- an ongoing battle for the Indebility that families will have to pendent Coach Corporation. provide transportation to and The company, which has offices from school, according to a 2019 in Hewlett and Inwood, serves New York State School Boards Association re por t, which Continued on page 12
By JEFFREY BESSEN jbessen@liherald.com
W
Jeffrey Bessen/Herald
ATlANTic BEAcH FiRE Rescue drone pilot Dave Weinberger set up a takeoff and landing zone for the drone in Atlantic Beach.
Getting a bird’s-eye view
Using drones in marine and fire emergencies By JEFFREY BESSEN jbessen@liherald.com
At the wheel of the Atlantic Beach Fire Rescue Hummer, Dave Weinberger pulled onto the beach off Ocean Boulevard, in Atlantic Beach, and then partially deflated the vehicle’s tires for better traction on the sand. Weinberger, a photographer and one of the emergency response unit’s drone
pilots, found an area where there were no people, put down an orange mat with an H in the middle, and surrounded it with several orange cones to keep the curious away from the spot where one of three rescue unit drones would be taking off and landing. This was a demonstration, but if had been an actual emergency, caution tape would have gone up as well, and an observer would
have accompanied Weinberger to watch him operate the drone and help with any problems. Weinberger placed a Parrot Anafi thermal drone on the orange mat, set up the controls and sent the device flying out over the Atlantic, showing a reporter the aerial images the drone was capturing. “We have two primary uses for our drones,” he had Continued on page 17
e have a signon bonus and other perks. We are actively and aggressively looking for drivers.