*Members: If you have any announcements that you would like to post on the ROBS web site, please contact Nick Siciliano at
News2@robsny.org. Announcements will be posted each month on this page.
If you miss any previous month's announcements,
you can view them at the Archives page of this web site. You can also read more news in our Newsletters. In addition, if you have
your own web site, and would like to share it with other members, let us know and we can include the link on the ROBS site.
IMPORTANT DATES |
IN THE NEWS APRIL 2013 | |||
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HONORING ANTHONY FELICIO
POSTED 3/24/13  Last month (March 30th) marked the tenth anniversary of the passing of former School Board President, Tony Felicio. Tony throughout his term on the Board of Education and as President always worked in the best interest of the students, staff and community of Brentwood. ROBS takes this opportunity to remember and honor Tony for all he did for Brentwood. View ROBS Tribute to Anthony Felicio. |
JEFF WOLFE MEMORIAL
POSTED 4/3/13 There will be a memorial for Jeff Wolfe, planned by his family, on April 20th at 1:00pm in the Brentwood High School Sonderling Auditorium. As part of the service, the cafeteria where Jeff held so many practices will be named in his honor. BRENTWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY HONORS TONY FELICIO POSTED 4/19/13 The sharing of the ROBS Tony Felicio History Project Interview took place this past Monday (April 15, 2013 ) at a meeting of the Brentwood Historical Society held in the auditorium of the Brentwood Public Library. In attendance were the Felicio Family, friends of the Brentwood Library (Tom Tarantowicz, Director and Marcia Pryluck, Asst. Director), and members of the Brentwood Historical Society (Ellen Edelstein, Prsident, and Arlene Gernon, Secretary). View Group Photo here. |
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BRENTWOO SCHOOLS BUDGET WOULD CUT 70 TEACHERS Published in Newsday.com, April 18, 2013 By CANDICE RUUD More than 70 teachers would be laid off in a $340 million budget proposal adopted Wednesday night by the Brentwood school board. The 2013-14 spending plan, which also would eliminate non-mandated elementary music and art programs, was approved after board members fought fiercely about where to make cuts. Ninety jobs in all would be lost under the new budget, district spokesman Felix Adeyeye said. More |
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MEMBERS'S CORNER |
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| How are we doing? We'd like to hear from you. Please visit our Letters to the Editor Page where you can share your views and comments |
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IN MEMORIAM |
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 View the "In Memoriam" page with the list of our Brentwood colleagues who have passed away. This list will be updated on a yearly basis. |
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| WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW | ||||
"MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II" by Nick Siciliano - 6/05 This year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. Although I was very young during the war years I do retain a few memories of that period that had an impact on me. A second memory concerns playing war games. There was a lot across the street from the apartment and it contained holes and mounds of dirt. The kids in the area used to go into the lot and play games. I recall this one day, when I was around six years old, when a group of various aged children formed themselves into two groups - the "good guys" versus the "bad guys". The group I was in—1 do not recall if we were the "good or bad guys"—were behind a mound of dirt and the other group was opposite us behind another mound of dirt. They were throwing various items at us including empty cans with the cut tops up so that if anyone got hit they would get hurt. Stupidly, I poked my head above the ridge as a rusty can came flying and it struck me in the scalp. There was blood all over and I was being yelled at for being so stupid. As I was being taken across the street, the insurance agent who was making his weekly visit to collect the weekly premium on the policies, was present. He had a car and he took me to Nassau Hospital where I was stitched up and sent home. My playing war games was over. |
It was 1944,1 believe, and I was in the second grade. It was late winter and the elementary school I was attending was being taken over by the government to be used for some sort of defense project , thus we had to be reassigned to another school in the district. I recall the last day of school before we were to be reassigned. My teacher. Miss Dawson, was in a real tizzy that day. She was running around the room handing out notices to each student regarding the transfer and as she was doing this she slipped and fell. You could see she hurt herself but without a thought she quickly got up, continued what she was doing and wished us good luck as we left the Willis Avenue Elementary School for the last time. |
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| NYSUT NEWS | ||||
 Check out Member Benefits NYSUT Social Services Counseling in Times of Stress Hurricane Sandy Relief NYSUT - Superstorm Sandy Resource Sheet |
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RC21 EVENTS |
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April 9 Executive Board Meeting April 30 General Membership Meeting For information visit RC 21 Website: http://ny.aft.org/rc21 |
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MEMBER WEBSITES |
ROBS HISTORY PROJECT - John M. Sherin | |||
| John M. Sherin Complete Team Building Kits
Teaching Cooperation/ Collaboration Emotional Intelligence (EQ) www.brokensquares.com Rick Mundy
Watercolor Prints of L.I., Adirondacks, NYC...
www.RickMundy.Com Gloria Hannemann Hardwood Flooring and Home Improvement www.Servi-all.com Elmon Kazandjian NYC Art Gallery www.woodwardgallery.net Mr. Graziano's Science Class Academic Enrichment and Remedial Website |
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: Marilyn DePlaza ESL and Spanish Teacher Marilyn S. DePlaza was born in New Bedford Mass in 1933 and grew up in an educated, diverse household that was part of a close, loving family. She was taught to be smart in school and expected to go to college. Achieving her undergraduate degree in textile design, Marilyn found her first real job in NYC earning $3,500/year. She next became a fabric analyst for Berlington Mills but found the big city to be overwhelming. When she and Henry met and married they bought their first house in the Hamlet of Brentwood L.I., for $12,000 by borrowing the $10 deposit required from a family member. Eventually Marilyn took a substitute position working for the School District where she worked in North Junior High for Stanley Yankowski, During 1962 she was called every day as a sub by Mary Criscione with whom she built a long relationship. She went on to sub for Bill Rapp at West Jr. High, Mike DeBellis, at So Jr. High and Steve Howland at E Jr. High. By 1968 she had taught in all of the Elementary Schools of the District and was invited to become first a part time and then full time teacher of ESL in Brentwood’s Elementary Schools for the next 2 years. When the time came, she was interviewed by David Martz at the high school. There she taught Spanish as well as ESL to her beloved students. Marilyn retired after two and a half decades in the classroom in June of 1988. We caught up with her for this interview in a Hotel Room on June 8, 2012 in Hauppauge, on a scorching afternoon the day after Jose Suarez’s Retirement party at which she was invited to speak. She flew in only two days before from Florida where she resides in Boca Raton. The hum you hear throughout is the sound of the air-conditioner working overtime. |
You can also view any of these past interviews by visiting History Project Interview Archives :
Barbara Mascaro |
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PAID ADVERTISING |
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 Classified Section |
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| THE TOWN CRIER - MarilynDePlaza@aol.com | ||||
 Marilyn De Plaza |
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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