On April 21, 1955, citizens from Farmingville, Holbrook, Holtsville, and Lake Ronkonkoma voted to form a central school district, later known as the Sachem Central School District. Today is Sachem’s 58th birthday.
Although these residents decided to unify by an overwhelming majority, 707 to 26, the results were not surprising; rather, the people were responding predictably to internal forces, such as the rapid growth of population in Brookhaven and Islip Towns, and to external pressures, such as the manipulation of public opinion by the State Education Department, a combined weight which made the creation of a new attendance unit almost inevitable.
These events, however, only sparked the reorganization movement in the community. Taxpayers had been well prepared for this venture by the Legislature in Albany, which had worked for years to equalize opportunities for pupils living in rural New York. To understand the origins of the merger, therefore, one must examine how the area school systems were structured during the early years of settlement when our villages were sparsely inhabited.
On the next day, at a special meeting held at School Superintendent Walter Ormsby’s office in Patchogue, the new board unanimously elected Philip L. Hans from Lake Ronkonkoma its new president, Francis Hugelmeyer from Lake Ronkonkoma its acting clerk, George Miller as treasurer and William R. Miller and Lincoln G. Schmidt as attorneys.
In addition, Ormsby recommended that the trustees name an up-and-coming educator with a clear vision to take over as supervising principal and grant the designee immediate tenure. The board agreed to a three-month probationary term instead. The gentleman’s name was Walter C. Dunham.
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro