Lakewood bus drivers asked to transport Orthodox Jewish students to school on Thanksgiving

LAKEWOOD — Thanksgiving might be just another day on the road for school bus drivers in one Ocean County town.

Lakewood is asking drivers to work in order to transport 18,000 Orthodox Jewish students to and from their private schools in the township.

The schools previously waived their right to busing on Thanksgiving.

But Lakewood school board attorney Michael Inzelbuch tells the Asbury Park Press no such waiver has been offered. Inzelbuch says he continues to see whether the schools would be flexible about busing on the holiday.

Rabbi Moshe Weisberg told the newspaper carpooling has become a safety issue because the Orthodox community has grown.

Inzelbuch says he would personally pay to provide a pumpkin pie or dessert to the bus drivers who work on Thanksgiving.