Mattituck coach Steve DeCaro poses for a portrait during Newsday's...

Mattituck coach Steve DeCaro poses for a portrait during Newsday's All-Long Island photo shoot at company headquarters on June 14, 2017. Credit: James Escher

Longtime Mattituck baseball coach Steve DeCaro has been placed on administrative leave from his full-time district job as a physics teacher following “complaints of inappropriate behavior,” superintendent Jill Gierasch said in a statement.

“We take all matters of this nature very seriously as providing a safe and secure environment for our students to succeed is of utmost importance for us,” Gierasch said. “We are currently working on securing a leave replacement physics teacher to fulfill our instructional needs.”

DeCaro, who was placed on leave Oct. 9, declined to comment. He has a 246-142 record in 16 seasons as Mattituck’s baseball coach and has been named Newsday’s Suffolk coach of the year twice in the last four seasons.

About 200 people including a handful of baseball players appeared at the Mattituck board of education meeting last Thursday to express their support for DeCaro, according to a story in the Suffolk Times.

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