Longtime Sachem educator Jim Nolan will be an inaugural honoree at the first Sachem Education Foundation Gala.
The Gala will occur on Thursday, March 27, at 6 p.m. at Flowerfield in St. James. Tickets and sponsorships are available now! All funds raised from the gala will support educational programming through foundation grants.
Nolan, a former teacher, principal, and superintendent, is receiving the Walter C. Dunham Leadership Award for his contributions to the educational landscape in Sachem. Dunham, often referred to as the “Father of Sachem Schools,” served as the longest-tenured Superintendent in Sachem history and worked from 1940-1975 serving the educational community. From 1940 through 1955, he was a principal, most notably at Gatelot Elementary, and from 1955-1975, he was appointed Superintendent.
A Bayport-Blue Point High School alumnus, Nolan attended LeMoyne College and began his career as a teacher at Sachem from 1983 through 1992. He was a teacher in Kings Park from 1992-1996 before beginning his administrative journey. As an administrator, he saw time as a dean and middle school principal in Pat-Med and became the principal of Sachem High School North in 2002. From 2009-2016, he served as Sachem’s Superintendent. In retirement, he worked as an interim principal in Baldwin, East Islip, Port Jefferson, returned to his alma mater at Bayport last year, and is finishing his career as the principal at Sachem North this year.
An active supporter of athletics, he coached baseball, basketball, and football at the middle school, high school, and college levels. He is an active member of Our Lady of the Snow and has been a Eucharistic Minister since his junior year in high school.
His wife Jackie, a Sachem alum, worked as a special education teacher in Pat-Med. His daughter Kaleigh is a middle school principal in upstate New York. Her husband, Joe, is a teacher. His son Kieran works for the Long Island Rail Road, and his soon-to-be wife, Danielle, is a teacher. His daughter Emma is a physical education teacher at Sachem North, and her husband Rob teaches and coaches at East Islip. He has four beautiful grandchildren, Jackson, Rylan, Lincoln, and Reagan, and their fifth grandchild, a girl, will join the family in July.