Public Employee Press

Profile in Public Service
Sallie Robertson leaves her corner after 30 years

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

The corner of Nostrand Avenue and Maple Street in Crown Heights is one of the busiest intersections in Brooklyn. Fire trucks with their sirens blaring use Maple as their designated street to cut across Nostrand.

School Crossing Guard Sallie Robertson has been doing her job on that corner crossing children in front of St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School for 30 years. Despite the danger, parents like Veronica Martin feel safe when the Local 372 member is on the job. “When she’s here we don’t worry,” said Martin, a mother of three children.

It’s not just Martin who feels that way, but most of the community as well. And they showed their appreciation for Robertson’s dedication on June 14 when the Midwood Block Association held a farewell party for her. Robertson was retiring the following week.

“You have to be a people person to do this job,” said Robertson’s colleague, Fay Mathurin, who works the next street. “Sallie has that. And she’s always telling me about the union meetings,” she said.

For Robertson, who has commuted from her home in Hollis, Queens, for most of the three decades, the satisfaction she feels on the job is deep. “I love my work,” she said. “Even in the cold weather.”

What does Robertson look forward to during her retirement years?

“I plan on working with the union’s Retirees Association,” said the proud member of Dept. of Education Employees Local 372, who was also a shop steward for 20 years and is still a member of several committees.

“Sallie Robertson is one of the hardest-working union activists in the 21st century,” said Local 372 and DC 37 President Veronica-Montgomery Costa. “She will be sorely missed, but I’m sure that a dedicated activist like Sallie never fully retires from union service.”

After 35 years on the job (she worked at another school before coming to St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School), Robertson has plenty of advice for rookies. “You have to have your own style, and keep your eyes on the kids,” she said.

Attached to the school’s fence, the children that Robertson kept her eye on created a big sign with farewell messages to the woman who made one of the busiest streets in the neighborhood into one of the safest.