Mark Mensch resigns as Floyd athletic director
Former William Floyd High School Athletic Director Mark Mensch Credit: Newsday/Ed Betz
Mark Mensch, the longtime athletic director at William Floyd High School, has resigned after a school district investigation found he did not hold the appropriate state-mandated certification for his position, according to records and a district spokesman.
“Mr. Mensch did not keep his physical education certification up to date as required by New York State education law,” William Floyd spokesman James Montalto said in a statement. “As a result, he tendered his resignation on March 8, which the Board of Education accepted.”
Mensch received $15,000 from the district in exchange for voluntarily resigning, according to a five-page agreement between Mensch and the district. Newsday obtained the document from the school district via a public records request this week.
Mensch, the school’s athletic director since 2004, made $190,054 in 2017-18, according to Newsday’s database of school salaries. He did not return messages seeking comment.
Before becoming Floyd’s athletic director in 2004, he served 15 years as an elected trustee on the district’s Board of Education. He resigned from that position in order to be hired by the district in 2004 as only their fifth athletic director since 1966.
Officially, Mensch’s title in the district was Coordinator of Physical Education, Health Education, Home Career Education, Athletics & Recreation and Athletics Director. State regulations say schools “shall employ a director of physical education who shall have certification in physical education and administrative and supervisory service.”
According to a publicly available state database of certified teachers, Mensch has had an active administrator certification since February 2005 but his physical education certificate expired in 1993.
Montalto said the district is “conducting a search for an interim athletic director until a permanent one can be appointed.”
Jim Baumbach is an award-winning investigative reporter at Newsday, where he has worked since 1998. He spent two decades in the sports department, where he covered every professional team and league, including events such as the Super Bowl and World Series.
