SCCC trustee resigns after taking job as schools chief

Denise Lindsay Sullivan has resigned as Suffolk County Community College trustee because she has taken a new job as superintendent/principal of the Remsenburg-Speonk school district.

Sullivan, 49, daughter of the late Suffolk Legislature Presiding Officer William Lindsay, has held the unpaid post as one of 10 community college trustees since 2014.

On July 2, Sullivan began work in the tiny East End district, which has a single school building and about 135 students in prekindergarten through sixth grade. She replaced Ron Masera, who now is superintendent of the Center Moriches system.

Sullivan previously worked for 25 years in the Hampton Bays school district, where she most recently was assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

She said she "would like nothing more" than to finish the final two years of her term as trustee, but added, “This new role will not allow the time that is necessary to be a productive member of the Board of Trustees, and the students of SCCC are entitled to someone who can give them that time.”

A release from the Remsenburg-Speonk school board said the “caliber of the applicants was tremendous” and Sullivan “rose to the top.”  She will make $187,500 a year in the new post.

Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory (D-Copiague) said he will name a committee to screen contenders for the rest of Sullivan's term on the SCCC board. That term expires June 30, 2022.