IMPORTANT DATES

EXPRESSWAY: CALLING OUT CELLPHONES, SCOURGE OF OUR TIMES
Published: Newsday Online, Jan 18, 2013
By Joseph Governale
Cellphones.
     These days they seem part of the human hand. Almost everybody I know has one. Even my 8-year-old granddaughter. And she got hers simply because all the other kids at school had already gotten one. Not being able to text some friend at another table in the cafeteria proved too much for the child. She whined. She cried. She carried on. She got her wish -- a pink Disney mobile.
     So grows this ever-booming breed of cellphone users....Read more

SAD SHARING
POSTED 1/1/13
     Ruth McCalla's sister, Elena Thomas passed away last week. Ruth retired from Northeast Elementary in 1991.
     You may send condolences to Ruth at 8820 Walther Blvd.,Apt 4211
Parksville,Md 21234

---

PINE PARK'S 50TH BIRTHDAY
POSTED 1/23/13

     This Year is Pine Park's 50th Birthday!
Our birthday celebration is scheduled for Friday, May 3rd.If anyone is interested in attending, please send your email address to: aanziano@bufsd.org
     We would like to send you an official evite. We are also looking for retired Pine Park staff to say a few words during our presentation. Please come and help us celebrate our birthday!

     As a youngster a certain amount of guilt controlled my behavior, but eventually I knew I had a choice: to care or not to care; to help or not to help; to give or not to give. Not until recently did I have any "extra" money to invest for the purpose of making more money. My salary was invested in a home for my family, my children's education, my parish and various charities. I did get a money return on the house and property which was rolled over into another house—so I'm in debt again—to a bank. Sometimes I wonder whether, if I had not been given the faith in God and a life after death, I would be more cold and selfishly calculating with the investment of my time and energy. 
     Before I act, would I think: What's in it for me? What pleasure or profit is there for me? Why get involved? Real love involves pain and sacrifice. Better to use people and things to my advantage. Every investment     

must have a profit. This philosophy would never have allowed me to become a teacher. What a waste of time and energy! Where's the profit? Where's the return? But then again with this philosophy I wouldn't even be writing this let alone reading it in a room full of friends.

Why did we do it?
     What was our purpose in taking on such an open ended “History Project”; the one for which we’ve evolved a script of questions with corresponding answers from over one hundred and fifty dedicated volunteers for nearly two decades?
      We couldn’t answer the question in ‘94 when people would ask “What are you going to do with the interviews?” All we could say was that for educational and informational purposes we had better document our record or lose any chance to preserve innumerable poignant accounts, humorous stories and touching tales told to us by exemplary educators and dedicated public servants, who shortly and for reasons unknown might soon be leaving our Brentwood for good.
     We decided to let time sort out the details as we commenced making appointments to ask questions and simply listen. Listen we did as this project evolved saving for subsequent generations the very essence of what it means to have been an educator or employed in a large student centered public school system during the latter half of the twentieth century. Brentwood remains an exemplar to all the others; a diverse microcosm and accurate reflection of the approximately one hundred and twenty seven neighboring school districts on Long Island and the thousands across this country. We’ve accomplished something here, something we can all be proud of having been part of, whether we were interviewed or not, ours is a claim of service that few other professionals in the State of New York are positioned to share in a like manner.
     INITIALLY the practice of sitting for an hour with the Subject of our interview and giving them one hundred percent of our focused attention for that period of time seemed a little threatening to many of our friends and former colleagues. So much so in fact that many declined repeated invitations to be interviewed as they left careers behind or retired from full time employ with the District. Despite all assurances that this was not to be about investigative journalism or invading their privacy, they’ve deferred. Until now, almost seventeen years after we began, some say they may finally be ready. We say, “Better late than never”. However, to all those among you who were willing to share openly not only your classroom experiences but personal stories, precious memories from your lives and fondest hopes for the future, we say thanks for allowing us to be able to continue the process of giving as we now are able to share interviews with you, with the community and with countless regional professional educators and researchers through tentative acceptance of ROBS offer of collaboration with The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University.
      You can now enjoy unlimited visits to www.robsny.org/ where you’ll see and hear segments from the History Project Interviews featured here in the ROBS History Project section on the Announcements Page archived each month thereafter for those wishing to return again and again.

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEWS:

Ruth Baker Bernhardt and
Eleanor Baker Bazata

Clericals
Interviewed 2000                                    

     Ruth and Eleanor Baker came to Brentwood in the 1930’s when Brentwood was a vastly different place from what it is today. They both attended the two room schoolhouse in different years.
      In the 1940’s there were very few paved streets in Brentwood. The school district had as yet no high school back then, and students had the daunting choice of going either to Farmingdale or Central Islip to graduate.
      As adults both sisters went to work for the district, one as a clerical assigned as Front Office Secretary to the Principal in North East Elementary School and the other as a clerical assigned to that library.      Watch their interview to learn about their fascinating recollections and interesting memories of Brentwood and the Brentwood School District the way it was over seventy years ago.     

You can also view any of these past interviews by visiting History Project Interview Archives :

Balinski, Wally
Brooks, Ronda
Carey, Dick
Carpenter, Beverly
Cerullo, Peter
Corkery, Florence
Cuneen, Ray
Curio, Rich
DeBellis, Claudia
DeBellis, Helen
DeBellis, Michael
DePlaza, Marilyn
Desoto, Edward
DiMento, Peter
Edwards, Richard
Efron, Martin
Fasullo, Mike
Felicio, Anthony
Filosa, Edith
Fiore, Marcy
Hannan, Edward
Helman, Harriet
Hodges, Shirley
Kirschner, Marge
Koehler, Florence
Lane, William
Lange, Joan
Laub, Dr. Herb
Martz, David
Mascaro, Barbara
McNicholas, Barbara
Monsen, Pattie
Moss, Ken
Mundy, Rick
Murray, Alma
Nanos, Jim
O'Conner, Thomas
Pace, Ron
Purcell, Joseph
Rosenthal, Ivy
Rosenthal, Ruth
Salerno, Hank
Scharf, Karen
Sekac, Evelyn
Sheele, Raymond
Sopp, Lorraine
Spencer, Franklin
Stuhler, Patricia
Sustrin, Letty and Sheila
Vannoy, Evelyn
Veech, Chris
Walker Lloyd, Shirley
Wolfe, Jeffrey
Zuckerman, Dorothy
Zuckerman, Jack

SAD SHARING
POSTED 1/3/13
From Eileen Kelly, South Middle School
      It is with deep sorrow that I must inform you of the passing of my dear and cherished friend Loretta Facciarossa. She lost a very long, tough battle with cancer. Her attitude and determination are an inspiration to all who knew her. She was a clerical in the student management office in South Middle School. Her husband Kevin is a custodian in the district. Her children Leah, Nicky and Sarah have all gone though the Brentwood School District. Sarah is currently attending Sonderling. She also leaves behind her son Evan and daughter-in-law Rebecca. There are no words to express how much she will be missed.
      A memorial will be held at Maloney's Funeral Home in Ronkonkoma on Friday, January 4th.
2 p.m. - 4p.m. and 7p.m. - 9 p.m.

Condolences can be sent to:
The Facciarossa Family
254 Lincoln Avenue
Brentwood, NY 11717

A NOTE FROM EILEEN KELLY - SOUTH MIDDLE SCHOOL
POSTED 1/19/13
      My school district is in a competition on Burpee web site. They are trying to win 1300 lbs of fresh veggies for the community. If you know my district, we need it. Can you please take a minute and vote and vote many times. Please ask your friends to do so too. Sign into the following site:
http://www.burpeehomegardens.com/

Click on the "W" by NY on the map and vote for Brentwood High School. Do the easy math problem and vote.
Thank you so much.
Eileen

SAD SHARING
POSTED 1/19/13
      Jeff Wolfe passed away late last evening at about 12:45 am. Jeff retired from Ross High School in 1997. He positively changed the lives of so many in Brentwood. Aside from his historical winning records with the Girl's Fencing Team, he single handedly got his girls hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships to universities. Below are the arrangements the family has made thus far:
     The family will be sitting shiva Tuesday and Wednesday, 1/ 22-23 from 4-7pm at his daughter's house. Victoria Wolfe 26 Beech Ct., Malverne, NY 11565.
     There will be a memorial service on February 9. Exact information to follow.
     Condolences may also be sent to his wife Harriet Wolfe @ 18 Woodland Dr., East Islip, NY 11730