Sachem School District

Sachem Central School District
Location
Towns of Brookhaven, Islip, and Smithtown, New York United States
District information
Type	Public
Established	1955
Superintendent	Patricia Trombetta [1]
Students and staff
District mascot	Flaming Arrows
Colors
Other information
Website	www.sachem.edu

The Sachem Central School District is the second largest school district by population on Long Island and among the biggest suburban school districts in New York, United States. Founded in 1955, the district now encompasses residents of the Census-Designated Places of Holbrook, Holtsville and Farmingville, as well as some parts of the Incorporated Village of Lake Grove and the CDPs of Lake Ronkonkoma, Ronkonkoma, Nesconset, Bohemia and Bayport.[2] As of 2011, its district office is located in Lake Ronkonkoma at Samoset Middle School.

Enrollment

As of 2015, Sachem School District has nearly 15,000 students enrolled annually.[3]

School colors

Sachem School District's colors are red, black and gold. Though each school uses the same fight song which starts out with "Here's to Red, Black, and Gold...", since the split in 2004, Sachem High School North has used black and gold while Sachem High School East uses red and gold as its principal colors. Both schools proudly kept the Sachem team name "Sachem Flaming Arrows".

Reconfiguration

As voted upon by district constituents in 1999, the district built two new schools and reconfigured its current schools at the start of the 2004-2005 school year.[4] The elementary schools, which formerly housed grades Kindergarten through 6th, are now K-5. Seneca and Sagamore junior high schools (formerly grades 7 and 8) became middle schools (grades 6 through 8). The former Sachem High School South, the 9th and 10th-grade facility, was converted into Samoset Middle School. Sequoya was built as a fourth middle school for the purpose of reconfiguration. Sachem High School North, formerly home to all 11th and 12th-grade students in the district became a 9-12 facility for students in the western and northern portions of the district. Sachem East was built as a 9-12 facility for students in the southern and eastern portions of the district. Sachem East is also the second largest suburban high school in New York state.[5]

District Cuts

On September 16, 2015, the Sachem School District Board of Education voted to cut custodial staff, athletics, clubs, and other extracurricular activities in order to reallocate $2.5 million for Special Education services and worker compensation costs. The board declined to cut $345,000 in Kindergarten aides. Changes will affect over 14,000 students across the district.

Three months later, on December 17, Sachem School District announced, due to declining enrollment and a $1.3 million budget gap, that it would close down Sequoya Middle School as well as Tecumseh and Gatelot Elementary Schools.[6]

Schools

Elementary schools

• Cayuga
• Chippewa
• Gatelot (Closed 2016)
• Grundy
• Hiawatha
• Lynwood
• Merrimac
• Nokomis
• Tamarac
• Tecumseh (Closed 2016)
• Wenonah
• Waverly

Middle schools

• Sagamore Middle School
• Samoset Middle School
• Seneca Middle School
• Sequoya Middle School (Closed 2016)

High schools

• Sachem High School East
• Sachem High School North[7]

Unbuilt

In addition to the schools mentioned above, a number of schools were once proposed, but never built.[8]

Board of education

As of the 2020-2021 school year, Sachem's school board consists of the following members:[9]

Sachem CSD Board of Education

Board member's name	Position
Robert Scavo	President
Sabrina Pitkewicz	Vice President
Alex Piccirillo	Trustee
Matthew Baumann	Trustee
Michael Isernia	Trustee
Stephanie Volpe	Trustee
Laura Slattery	Trustee
Vincent Reynolds	Trustee
Meredith Volpe	Trustee

Notable alumni

• Jon Bellion – singer, songwriter
• Dalton Crossan – former NFL running back for the Indianapolis Colts and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers[10]
• Ryan DeRobertis – (A.K.A. Skylar Spence) electronic musician
• Jumbo Elliott – professional football player
• Karen Ferguson-Dayes – soccer player[11]
• Neal Heaton – professional baseball player
• Keith Kinkaid – professional ice hockey player
• Maria Michta-Coffey – Olympic race walker
• Jeff Ruland – professional basketball player
• Vince Russo – professional wrestling writer
• Marc Sebastian – fashion model, stylist, and activist
• Douglas M. Smith – New York State Legislator
• Joe Scally – soccer player

References

1. "Superintendent's Office". Sachem Central School District. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
2. "Long Island Index: Interactive Map". www.longislandindexmaps.org. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
3. "Sachem Online". sachem.edu. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
4. Mead, Julia C. (September 18, 2005). "Bulking Up, Slimming Down". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
5. "2016 Largest Public High Schools in New York - Niche". K-12 School Rankings and Reviews at Niche.com. Retrieved May 23, 2016.
6. "Sachem school board votes to close 3 schools | News 12 Long Island". longisland.news12.com. Archived from the original on December 18, 2015.
7. "Sachem Schools". Sachem Central School District. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
8. "Map shows original elementary suggestions | Sachem Report". December 27, 2012. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
9. "Sachem Central School District - Board of Education". www.sachem.edu. Retrieved August 23, 2020.
10. "Sachem alum Dalton Crossan Signs with Colts". Sachem Report. Retrieved February 25, 2018.
11. Pukalo, Mark (November 12, 1993). "For UConn, Ferguson Finds a Way". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2019.

External links

• Official Sachem School District Website