Elissa Flanders

• Retired Teacher

Elissa Flanders, a retired elementary school teacher remembered for her gracious integrity, died on June 11, 2025, at the age of 80.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Elissa began working as a per diem substitute in 1985 before becoming a regular substitute at PS 200 in Brooklyn. In 1988, she became a full-time teacher at PS 200, where she worked until her retirement in 2012.

“Elissa was a superior teacher and instilled a love of mathematics in her students,” said her friend Elyse Glenn, a fellow retiree who also taught at PS 200. Glenn, who taught 2nd grade, received students from Elissa’s 1st-grade class who “were always organized and generally had better-than-average math skills.”

Elissa graduated from Brooklyn College and worked as a bookkeeper prior to entering the classroom as an educator.

Her son, Jason Flanders, a math teacher at James Madison HS in Brooklyn, noted that his mother’s classroom laid a foundation for students transitioning from a play-oriented kindergarten environment into their grade-school career. She was firm with students and “had a clear set of rules. She held them to a standard,” said Flanders.

She also was “lively and exuberant in her teaching style,” said Glenn, who could often hear Elissa’s students laughing and reading poetry together down the corridor at PS 200.

Elissa was well-liked by her students and fellow teachers. “She believed that as colleagues, we could all learn from each other, and she generously shared her ideas and materials,” said Glenn. Flanders recalled that his mother would “help and give advice when needed, for new teachers or existing teachers.”

Sheila Fishbane, a retired 6th grade teacher who served as chapter leader at PS 200 for many years, said Elissa was “a very fair-minded person” on whom she could rely if she needed to speak to someone about a matter at the school.

“Elissa was always there, and I knew if I told her something, she would think about it and not just give me an off-the-top-of-the-head answer,” Fishbane said. They shared a retirement party in 2012 and remained involved in the UFT. “Elissa realized how important the union was to the rank-and-file teachers,” said Fishbane.

Fishbane and Marcia Simon, a retiree who also taught at PS 200, both remember Elissa as being very independent. When they would go out together, “Elissa wouldn’t go in anyone else’s car — she had to drive,” said Simon. Her willingness to drive was key to her friends’ participation in monthly cultural outings planned by their fellow retiree and friend, Linda Silverman, who had been an art teacher at PS 200. Those who were not up to driving into Manhattan or taking the bus relied on Elissa. “She was the one who took care of everybody by making sure they were not left out of cultural things, that they were not left out of a luncheon,” said Silverman. “This is what I see and remember of Elissa: This gracious woman who went out of her way for her colleagues, who became her friends and her family.”

In her retirement, Elissa enjoyed spending time with friends, traveling and looking after her beloved grandchildren.

In addition to Flanders and his wife, Susan Epstein, Elissa is survived by her other son, Justin C. Flanders, and his wife, Jennie Rae DeVerna; her grandchildren, Hannah, William, Rocco, Harley, Legend and Savannah; her sister, JoEllen Schwarcz, and Schwarcz’s spouse, Michael; and her brother, Frank Waltzer, and his spouse, Laurie Salt.

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