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Events Schedule

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ROBS CARES
POSTED 9/7/21
     ROBS contributed $100 for the annual Back-to-School supplies drive at St. Patrick's Church in Bay Shore. This is one of the many ways that ROBS has continually shown its support to our community.
      Please view the Thank You Note that we received from St. Patricks.

SAD SHARING
POSTED 9/27/21
     Janiece Clarke, a long time Brentwood elementary school teacher passed away last night. She would have been 101 years old in two months. She loved teaching at Northeast elementary school for over 25 years. She will be missed.

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ROBS MEMBERSHIP-TIME TO
JOIN OR RENEW
POSTED 9/21/21
     The 2021-22 school year has just begun. For our current ROBS members, it is time to renew your membership. For our new Brentwood School retirees, we welcome you to join. Please download the following informative welcome letter and the ROBS Membership Form.
     The annual membership fee is $25, complimentary for those over the age of 75. Checks should be made out to ROBS with "Dues" written on the memo line and sent to Carmen Roldan, 49 Linda Lane, North Babylon, NY 11703.
 
  Membership Form       Welcome Letter

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. We 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.
   You can 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.

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THIS MONTH'S FEATURED    HISTORY PROJECT
INTERVIEW:
Jack Goldstein
Reading Consultant

Click on the image above to read Jack Goldstein's Biography

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