GARNERVILLE, N.Y. — After nearly 20 years at North Rockland Central School District (CSD), Lenny Bernstein has stepped down from his role as the district’s coordinator of transportation and emergency management.

Bernstein’s Aug. 25 retirement caps a pupil transportation career that stretches back to 1984. Then, he was working for a small New York school district as the lunch manager (or, as his sons put it, “My dad was the lunch lady”).

That district, Tri-Valley CSD in Grahamsville, needed someone to head up the transportation department, so Bernstein took it on as a second role. He told SBF that he “fell in love” with the yellow bus business.

Later in his career, at North Rockland CSD, Bernstein supervised the transportation department as well as the district’s emergency preparedness and emergency management.

In addition to his district positions, Bernstein served terms as president of two industry groups: the National Association for Pupil Transportation and the New York Association for Pupil Transportation.

Although his immediate plans for retirement include a trip to the New Jersey shore and a few rounds of golf, Bernstein said that leaving the school bus business is bittersweet.

“I will miss my staff and the people that I worked with,” he said, “along with the friendships all around New York state and the country that I have been blessed to have.”

To read SBF’s "Fascinating Personalities" profile of Bernstein, go here.