To Marcy Abramowitz, she was Aunt Sandy.

Abramowitz realized from an early age that her aunt was different.  “She knew the president—several of them. And she knew the mayors. But to me, she was just Aunt Sandy, who was always pushing me to be a teacher.” It was a career choice Abramowitz resisted at first. Yet today, she reflects on the legacy that brought her to Public School 200 in Brooklyn. “Sandy was always in my life, but after we lost my mom, then she and my uncle definitely always made time for us,” she says. “They took my brother and me on excursions to the city, to the theater and to restaurants. They introduced us to so many things.”

Her aunt supported most of her decisions, but was not pleased that Abramowitz was considering a career other than teaching. She was drawn to performance art as an undergraduate at Brooklyn College, where she majored in broadcasting and archaeology.

Aunt Sandy persisted. “She just kept pointing teaching out as an option to me, always,” Abramowitz recalls.

When Abramowitz graduated from college in 2002, with theater work nonexistent, she took a job at a museum. “I started working with kids and realized how much I loved it,” Abramowitz says. “So I looked into becoming a substitute teacher.”

 “I never told anyone [who my aunt was] because I wanted to be judged for myself,” Abramowitz says. After substitute teaching for two years at PS 200 and other schools, she jumped at the chance when a position opened up at PS 200.

“This is such a good school. There is so much support here. There’s a full-time literacy coach and full-time math coach. I can learn by watching other teachers,” Abramowitz says.

New York State United Teachers first vice president and AFT vice president Maria Neira notes that Feldman paved the way for many, “as a dedicated teacher, as a staunch unionist, and as a courageous and revered union leader.” Feldman’s career took her from elementary teacher to president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City to president of the American Federation of Teachers in Washington, D.C.

Abramowitz is honored that her aunt bequeathed a special necklace to her, one given to Feldman in 2002 by NYSUT in recognition of her role as a pioneering woman leader. The gold pendant depicts Susan B. Anthony, a teacher and union leader. “I still think about calling [my aunt] when something special happens in class.”

Adapted from an article by Betsy Sandberg in the May 11, 2006, issue of New York Teacher.