Over the past 10 years, identical twins Letty and Sheila Sustrin have accumulated quite a collection of ballet shoes. And they don't even dance.
     The Deer Park sisters, 74, have written a series of children's books called "The Teacher Who Would Not Retire" about a teacher named Mrs. Belle, who always wears her trademark ballet slippers.
     And so the siblings make sure to wear ballet shoes themselves to presentations -- silver ones, gold ones, black ones, pink ones. The former kindergarten and first-grade teachers, who taught side-by-side in the Brentwood School District for 38 years and have always lived together, also dress alike. "The children get such a kick out of us dressing the same," Letty says.
     But they do offer a clue to their identities: Each makes sure to wear a necklace or a pin with her first initial.
     On Sunday, the twins are scheduled to present the fourth book in their series, "The Teacher Who Would Not Retire Becomes a Movie Star," at 12:30 p.m. at the YMCA Boulton Center in Bay Shore. The book, geared to ages 4 to 10, tells how Mrs. Belle's town nominates her as "favorite teacher" and a crew is sent from Hollywood to document her life. More- Read entire article in Newsday

     The impact of Hurricane Sandy has been disastrous for a number of ROBS members as well as others here on Long Island. NYSUT has offered to help those impacted by the storm by creating the NYSUT Disaster Relief Fund. If you feel you qualify for assistance please download the application below. You can also contact Jeff Lockwood at: 1-800-342-9810, ext 6252 or disasterrelief@nysutmail.org. Completed applications can be forwarded to NYSUT Disaster Relief Fund: Attn: Jeff Lockwood, Accounting Department, 800 Troy-Schenectady Road, Latham, NY 12110.
      ROBS is joining this effort by making a contribution of $500 to this fund. You can also help your fellow ROBS and others impacted by the storm by making a contribution in any amount to this fund. Make checks payable to "NYSUT Disaster Relief Fund" and send them to the attention of Jeff Lockwood at the above address.
      We thank you for any assistance you can give during this critical time.

Download Application

Additional Storm Relief Resources

Ken Moss
High School English Teacher

    Jan 26, 2012 arrived and around mid-day so did Ken Moss. Asking about the broadest categories we wished to query, we answered with four; early influences, introduction to Brentwood, life after M-T, his advice to those who may follow. Taking little notice of ROBS question and answer format he began talking openly and confidently for almost fifty minutes straight, speaking in his own fluid and wholly captivating manner until he’d conveyed all he wanted to say. What follows in two parts ends as did most of his work in the district with his audience waiting for more. His initial job interview with Mike De Bellis at South Middle School was brief. Right afterward he was presented with a contract to teach 8th Grade. No call back necessary. At one point during that first year a NEWSDAY reporter was waiting for him outside his classroom door with a question posed by a father of one of his students. Ken tells us how Mike De Bellis, “to his credit”, stepped in and asked, “What do you want to do Ken?” They both agreed to bury the particular issue ( which, according to Ken had come “too early” in his career ) perhaps assuring Ken’s tenure which he did not as yet possess. As one of the moving forces of a BTA Humanistic Conference held in Brentwood during the late sixties and voluntarily attended by more than 1,000 participants, he conducted workshops  promoting his own technique for advancing student writing. He called them Easy as 1, 2, 3, soon to find the method widely emulated throughout the State of New York and the whole country thereafter. It was Charles Calitri at Hofstra who first introduced him to the concept of affective education. Ken had come to Hempstead after Berkley to complete his Masters Degree. That was where he found a whole brained approach to experiential education and student motivation that grabbed his creative imagination and pushed him toward journaling, drama and the Maslow Toffler School. Believing every time one door closes another opens, he resigned his teaching position after 20 years to pursue the collegiate life teaching in a Community College, (a huge mistake ), at SUNY, Marist, and then SUNY New Paltz from which he retired. During two decades in Brentwood, Ken was active in the BTA. He was Producer, Director and performer in a variety of local productions such as “I Heard It in the Boy’s Room”, “Family Album”, “Revolution” and “The Stoned Age.” The latter two were part of the Performing Arts Centers productions at the Maslow Toffler School of Futuristic Education where he was Founding Director of the PAC. It is in the final moments of his interview (not shown ) where he describes an account at Open School Night in the traditional system which permanently changed the life of a former student – the memory of which remains with him forever – which he reminds us,  “is not a time, but a feeling.”

Barbara Mascaro
Beverly Carpenter
Edward Hannan
Evelyn Sekac
Florence Koehler
Franklin Spencer
Ivy Rosenthal
Jack Zuckerman
Joan Lange
Joseph Purcell
Karen Scharf
Lorraine Sopp
Lynn Desoto
Marcy Fiore
Mike Fasullo
Patricia Stuhler
Pattie Monsen
Rich Curio
Richard Mundy
Ron Pace
Wally Balinski

SAD SHARING
POSTED 11/11/12

     Anne Binford, a retired business teacher from the Ross Building, lost her husband, Bob Binford, on November 7, 2012. Bob was a retired master electrician from the Brentwood School District after working there 25 years.
Services for Bob will be held on Monday, November 12, 2012:
Viewing: 10 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Homegoing: 11 a.m.
Hope Missionary Baptist Church
100 Lemon & Rev. Richard Loving Street
Central Islip, NY 11722
Anne's home address is:
15 Goldenwood Circle
Central Islip, NY 11722