IMPORTANT DATES

ROBS SCHOLARHIP FUND NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
POSTED 3/21/13
     Each year ROBS gives out scholarships to several Brentwood HS seniors who plan on pursuing careers in the field of education. The scholarships we present are: the Jack Zuckerman Award for $1000, the Lilian Kelly Award for $750 and two or three ROBS Scholarship Awards each for $750.
     We rely on contributions to this scholarship fund and ask that you help us in maintaining this worthwhile program. If you would like to make a contribution, please send a check to Marge Kirchner, Treasurer. Her address can be found on the Executive Board page of this site. Make the check out to ROBS with "scholarship fund" on the memo line.
     Thank you for your generosity and continued support.

SAD SHARING
POSTED 3/6/14
     Florence Patte Koehler has passed away February 26, 2014 at age 101. A memorial will be held at Grant Funeral Home, Brentwood, Saturday March 22, 2014 10:00 am with a religious service at 11:00 am. She was the oldest living former Brentwood School teacher and one of four teachers at the time who taught in the four room school house on third avenue. The obit is in Newsday 3/6/14.
     You can also view her History Project interview here.

SAD SHARING
POSTED 3/23/14
   Sadly, Barbara McNicholas's mom (Mary Bonner) passed away Friday night.   The wake will be at Raynor & D'Andrea, 683 Montauk Hwy, Bayport, NY 11705 631-472-0122.
   Monday night: 7 pm - 9:30 pm
   Tuesday 2 pm - 4 pm and 7 pm - 9:30 pm
Service @: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 495 North Ocean Avenue, Patchogue, NY.
Time: TBA

Social Justice Efforts Critical to Union's Mission
Published in NYSUT United: A Union of Professionals, Sept/Oct 2013

     In helping educators plan ahead, NYSUT has provided a selection of social justice events and resources for each month of the school year. The following are those listed for the month of January:

     Women's History Month — The union recognizes Women's History Month in March with a free poster featuring Elizabeth Cady Stanton, an American social activist, abolitionist and leading figure in the early women's rights movement. Printable copies are available to download at http://www.nysut.org.

March 22 — World Day for Water
Visit www.worldwater.org to learn how to help protect and preserve fresh water around the globe. The UN offers teaching tools.
Visit www.unwater.org/worldwatertoday.

March 31 — Cesar Chavez Day and anniversary of the founding of United Farm Workers. A teacher's guide is available at www.tolerance.org/kit/viva-la-causa.

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
INTERVIEW:

Peter DiMento
Administration

Click on the image above to read Peter DiMento's Biography

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

Baker Bernhardt, Ruth
Baker Bazata, Eleanor
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

The Town Crier" was set up a number of years ago so that the retirees of the Brentwood School District could have an email center to stay in touch. Since I began to send out all sorts of information, retirees from all over the country have sent me their email addresses. Some have asked, "Do you have any idea where so and so is?" Others have sent proud news of their accomplishments, their family news, photos,etc. and sadly, we often get bad news. Many retirees whom I have never met write me to thank me for keeping this connection going, as everyone remembers the Brentwood years with warm feelings.

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