*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                                                                        NOVEMBER 2017

November 3

General Membership Meeting

November 16
Executive Board Meeting

December 1
ROBS Holiday Luncheon

Meeting Dates
Events Schedule

SAD SHARING
POSTED 11/6/17
    Anita Diamond's husband, Jack, passed away. His funeral was held today. Anita retired from Oak Park in 2005. She welcomes visitors for Shiva. The following is the information:

Anita Diamond
102 Alicia Drive
North Babylon, N.Y. 11703

Her home is north of Sunrise Highway and south of the Southern State, right off Deer Park Avenue.

Visiting Time:
Tues- Thursday 2-5 and 7-9
Friday - 10:00 A.M. - noon
Saturday - 7-9 P.M.


SAD SHARING POSTED
11/26/17
     On Sunday, November 19, Henry DePlaza, the husband of Marilyn DePlaza, retired ESL teacher, passed away. He died of Alzheimers. There was a private family funeral for Henry on November 24th. Condolences can be sent to Marilyn at her daughter's address:
c/o Marci Deplaza, 18540 Long Lake Drive, Boca Raton, FL 33496.
     Donations can be made to the Alzheimers Foundation in Henry's name.



VOTE NO
POSTED 10/23/17
   On Election Day, November 7, there will be a very important vote on whether or not there should be a Constitutional Convention. It will appear on the back of the ballot. We urge you to vote NO. To be informed before you vote, please read "How Could a NYS Constitutional Convention Affect Your Family and You?"

SAD SHARING POSTED
11/14/17
      It is with great sadness to announce that retired Loretta Park teacher, Elizabeth "Betty" Norton, passed away on Saturday. Condolences may be sent to her husband Rick and sons Andrew and Patrick at: 3 Beech Road Islip, N Y 11751
      Memorial visiting: Wednesday from 2-4:30 and 7-9 pm at Overton Funeral Home, 172 Main St. in Islip.
     Funeral Mass: 9:45 am at St. Mary's RC Church in East Islip
      In lieu of flowers, donations in Betty's name may be sent to: Deerfield Valley Rescue, PO Box 854, South Wilmington, VT 05363.



ATTENTION ROBS MEMBERS
RENEW YOUR 2017-18 MEMBERSHIP TODAY

POSTED 11/1/17
     If you haven't all ready done so, please renew your 2017-18 membership today. The application and information for new members to join ROBS can be found on the Membership Page of this website.


MEMBERSHIP
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
IN MEMORIAM


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.
NYSUT NEWS WHAT YOU DIDN'T KNOW
NYSUT Website
www.nysut.org


MEMEBER ACTION CENTER
Support VOTE-COPE with your voluntary contribution. Download the VOTE-COPE Contribution Card here.


Check out the Famous People and Events on that special day in November see what else happened!
Historical People and Events for November
November 2017 Holidays, Bizarre, Unique, Special Days
Bizarre and Unique Holidays in November
All About November
November in History
ROBS HISTORY PROJECT - John M. Sherin
Why did we do it?
     What was our purpose in taking on such an open ended “History Project”; for which we evolved a script of questions and got answers from over 150 subjects for two decades?
     We couldn’t answer the question in 1994 when people would ask “What are you going to do with the interviews?” All we could say was that for educational purposes we had to document our record now or lose the chance to preserve so many poignant accounts, funny stories and touching tales told by exemplary educators. We knew these dedicated public servants might shortly, for reasons yet unknown, be leaving Brentwood for good.
     So, we decided to let time sort out the details. We began scheduling appointments. W
e asked questions and listened saving for generations the essence of what it meant to have been an educator or employed, in this large public school system during the second half of the 20th century. Brentwood remains an exemplar to all others; a diverse microcosm of America reflecting 124 districts on Long Island while simultaneously resembling thousands across the U.S. We’ve accomplished something here to be proud of. Whether we were interviewed or not, ours is a claim of service that few professionals in the State of New York or elsewhere have positioned themselves to share in the way we have.
     INITIALLY the practice of sitting with a subject for an hour and giving them a hundred percent focused attention seemed somewhat daunting to a number of friends and colleagues. So much so in fact that many declined our repeated invitations to speak with us as they left careers or retired from full employment. Despite all assurances that we were not about investigative journalism or invading privacy, they deferred. Now, twenty years after we began, some are saying they may be ready. “Better late than never” we say. However, to all among you who were willing to share not only your classroom experiences and personal stories, but precious memories from your lives along with your fondest hopes for the future, we say “Thanks”. Thanks for allowing us to continue the process by paying it forward as we share these interviews with the Brentwood community and countless professionals and researchers near and far. Through an acceptance of ROBS offer of collaboration with Archivist Dr. Geri Solomon and The Long Island Studies Institute at Hofstra University our History Project lives on in academia as well as in the collection of the Brentwood Public Library, thanks to Director, Thomas A. Tarantowicz.
   Enjoy unlimited visits to www.robsny.org where you can watch and listen to segments from featured Interviews in the ROBS History Project Section on our Announcements Page each month. Return here to listen and learn again and again.

THIS MONTH'S FEATURED HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEW:

Estelle Hoyt
Social Worker
February 12, 1999
     Estelle Hoyt is a retired bilingual social worker who worked predominantly with the Hispanic students in the Brentwood School District. She was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, the youngest of three girls. Her mother died when she was an infant. Estelle and her middle sister were sent to live with a maternal aunt in Jamaica while her older sister went to live with an aunt in the lower East side of Manhattan. She attended PS 170 elementary school and Jamaica High School.
    She is divorced and has three grown sons and two grandchildren. Her oldest son, Andy is a professor of molecular biology at Johns Hopkins. Her middle son, Lon is an actor, entertainer and musical director. He has two children, a daughter, Lisbeth age 11 and a son, Loren age 8. Her youngest son, Jamie, who graduated from Harvard University, is a television producer.
    Estelle attended Queens College majoring in Spanish and French studying to be a Spanish teacher, however when she heard that they needed Spanish-speaking social workers in the city, she decided to change her career. She then worked for 7 years as a social worker in the city. After her oldest son was born, she and her husband bought a house and moved to Seaford where she did some home teaching and substitute teaching in Spanish. She then got a part time job as a nursery school teacher when her youngest son was in Kindergarten. A friend of hers who was the head of the social workers in Pilgrim State Hospital told her that she was looking to hire a retired social worker, so she accepted the position. In 1969, while working at Pilgrim State Hospital, she read an article written by the sisters of St. Joseph in a local newspaper stating that there was a need for Spanish-speaking social workers in the Brentwood School district. This was the perfect job for her. She said it was the three s’s… Spanish, Social work, and Schools with the advantage of hours that coordinated with her sons’ school hours. She was hired as the first Spanish-speaking social worker in the Brentwood School District.
   When she first started working in Brentwood, she didn’t know what to expect. She was in a different school every day working with a different principal in each. She was assigned to the elementary schools and was later called upon to go to the middle schools and high school when needed. She made a lot of home visits and worked very closely with the families in the community. She would often take teachers who wanted to meet with the parents of their students on home visits with her. Estelle defined her purpose as a social worker in the school as a liaison between the school and the home. She was certified as an attendance teacher, so she also worked with the students with chronic truancy.

Estelle Hoyt

    In 1996, Estelle put in her papers to retire after 27 years in the district. She said that Mother Nature helped her make the decision. The decision was mainly due to the cold and icy winters. She didn’t like driving in the bad weather, and on one occasion while making a home visit, she slipped on the ice and fell down the front steps of the house. This was the deciding factor for her that it was time to retire. She did, however, make the decision reluctantly, because she really loved her job.
   When asked what has given her the most source of pride in her job, she felt that she helped teachers understand that not all students were the same and what the students’ home lives where like. She explained what their home circumstances were. She made teachers understand that there were times that students couldn’t do homework, because they didn’t have a table at home to work at. She would ask teachers to let them do their homework in school under supervision. She also expressed the importance of having students tested in their own language when being evaluated.
  After retirement, Estelle continued to work in the district part time evaluating the ESL and bilingual students in the spring to determine if they should continue or be exited out of the program for the following school year. She is also on the Board of the National Association of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Social Workers. She participates in La Vision, an annual one-day self-esteem conference for high school students in Suffolk County. She does improvisational acting with The Players, a group with the Nassau County Mental Health Association. She ran a woman’s group at a camp for seniors talking about women’s rights and working as a drama coach. She says that she would like to travel more now that she is retired.   

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


View May 8, 2015 History Project Celebration Photo Album


View History Project Slide Show on YouTube



RC21 EVENTS
November 7
Executive Board Meeting

November 24

General Meeting

November 2
2017 NYSUT Regional Conference on LI
Registration Form

RC 21 Website: http://rc21.ny.aft.org

MEMBER WEBSITES
Sheila & Letty Sustrin
Children's Books Authors
www.sustrinbooks.com

John M. Sherin
Local /Regional
(Jigsaw Maps)600
Geography Manipulatives
www.mapzzles.org

Complete Team Building Kits
Teaching Cooperation/ Collaboration
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
www.brokensquares.com

Alida Thorpe
Island Vision Photography, Inc.
www.pbase.com/alidasphotos


Rick Mundy
Watercolor Prints of L.I., Adirondacks, NYC...
www.RickMundyWatercolors.com

Gloria Hannemann
Hardwood Flooring and
Home Improvement
www.Servi-all.com


Elmon Kazandjian
NYC Art Gallery
www.woodwardgallery.net


Rose Marie Brousseau
Brentwood Rotary Club
http://brentwoodrotary.com

Ronda Brooks
Children's Social Skills Groups
www.KidHelp.org


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.