New athletic director to begin at Southold this summer
The Southold School District is getting a new athletic director.
Steven Flanagan of Sayville, 38, will replace current athletic director and dean of students Michael Brostowski this July, taking the reigns of a turf field project passed in December.
“He’s going to play a big role in making sure we bring people together to make sure we get the design [of the turf field] implemented effectively,” Superintendent David Gamberg said.
Little progress has been made on the field so far, but administrators plan to meet over the next few months to discuss materials and design and to create a schedule, Mr. Gamberg said. He added that he expects the turf field will take a few years to complete.
“It’s very exciting for [Mr. Flanagan],” Mr. Gamberg said. “It’s a nice thing come in as athletic director and get new facilities that you’re a part of.”
Mr. Flanagan said he previously worked as a physical education and health teacher in New York City for 11 years before deciding to pursue a degree in administration.
Mr. Gamberg said it was Mr. Flanagan’s experience at both large and small schools that made him an ideal candidate for the role. Like Mr. Broskowski, he will serve as dean of students.
“He has a good balance, approach and understanding from his past experience on how to handle both of those separate positions, but do it in an effective way,” Mr. Gamberg said.
Mr. Flanagan said he chose Southold to start his new career path due a combination of its “really strong” community and the fond memories he has of spending summers on the North Fork.
He plans to learn from others during his first few months in the position in order to get to know the athletic community before making changes to the district’s program, which shares numerous teams with Mattituck and Greenport schools.
“I want to know what the community’s needs are and grow from there,” Mr. Flanagan said. “As an athletic director, you always want to improve our athletics at the state level, have more high-level student athletes and more students who receive college scholarships … I want to help Southold sports grow overall.”
While Mr. Flanagan’s position officially begins in July, Mr. Brostowski’s last day was Tuesday. During the gap, Mr. Gamberg said he will fill in as athletic director, with Mr. Flanagan making sporadic visits to the school throughout the month.
After three years at Southold, Mr. Brostowski is headed to the Roslyn School District to accept a position as head of health, physical education and athletics, he said.
“I’ll miss working with the students, the teachers and the parents,” he said. “They’ve been great over the past couple of years. I’ve really appreciated my time here and I’m looking forward to new things.”
