When Brookhaven
Town was divided into school districts in 1813, Lake Ronkonkoma was
defined as follows: “No. 8 is to embrace the Inhabitants of the
western part of Western Middle Island about Rocconcama Pond to
Smithtown line.” In 1846 the district lines were changed to include
Smithtown and Islip from Nicoll Road to Oxhead Road, southerly to
Fire Road, 20 rods south of LIRR, thence easterly to Islip and
Brookhaven Town line. The boundaries were changed several times
until finally in 1875 the district was defined as No. 5.
The early history
of this district is somewhat confusing, but up until about 1800,
most of the efforts toward educating the young people were in
private schools located at various places some distance from the
present district.
The first public
schoolhouse was built in 1800 on the site of the Methodist church.
This was a frame building of hewn timber covered with shingles, and
hand made nails were used in its construction. Some of the first
teachers were Lewis Gould, Orlando Lee, Mrs. Samantha Smith, Mre.
Willis Hallock, Mr. Hubbard, Mr. Raynor and the Rev. Daniel Hallock.
The pay in those
days was very small, and $10 was the common salary for a quarter of
the school year, which also included board, as the custom “of
boarding round” was the usual thing, which meant that the teacher
boarded in each family a certain number of weeks, according to the
number of pupils in the family and the number of weeks each attended
school. As the larger families usually had the least accommodations
the teacher boarded most of his time where the conditions were least
attractive.
In 1859 this
building and site were sold to Nathaniel Newton, and the building
was moved to the premises of Charles Newton on Hawkins Avenue. A
new site was purchased across the street from the old one, and a one
room building erected, which served until 1900, when another room
was added.
The school room
was heated by an old box stove which roasted the children on one
side and froze them on the other with the cold air coming in through
the sides of the building.
In 1877 a regular
course of study was laid out, and philosophy was one of the
subjects. Music was taught by a special teacher certain days of
each week.
In 1910 a demand
arose for a school nearer the railroad station and a compromise was
reached in 1912, and land was purchased for a school site from Frank
L. Newton on which a two story building was built on Hawkins Avenue,
overlooking beautiful Lake Ronkonkoma or “White Sands.” The old
school building and site were sold to the Lake Grove Athletic
Association.
In 1925 and again
in 1928 the school grounds were enlarged by the purchase of one and
a half acres of ground on the north. In the southwest corner of the
school plot a pretty little park was laid out around a memorial
stone and tablet of the local soldiers in World War 1.