An official with the New York State Department of Education confirmed Tuesday that Timothy McMullen, former suspended principal of Allegany-Limestone Middle School, had his teaching and school administrator licenses revoked.
Jeanne Beattie of the State Department of Education communications department confirmed that McMullen’s licenses had both been revoked, but said she could offer no additional information on why or when the revocations occurred.
When contacted, McMullen, a resident of Allegany, said in a statement he, too, does not know when his licenses were revoked.
“It is especially puzzling and frustrating to me because I was never notified of this by the state, therefore I do not know a date,” McMullen stated.
McMullen had been placed on paid suspension from the Allegany-Limestone Central School District from 2011 to 2013 pending the outcome of legal proceedings detailed in state education law 3020-A, which are used to resolve issues of alleged misconduct by teachers.
The district never provided information on the charges brought against McMullen.
In 2013, McMullen agreed to resolve the charges “through mutually agreed terms.”
McMullen later was hired to serve as director of education and principal at the G.A. Learning Center in Jamestown where he served until this past school year.
Linda Fuller, a secretary at G.A. Learning Center, said she couldn’t share information on McMullen’s departure, but said, “He’s a great guy and there’s nothing I could tell you that would be negative about him.
“He was phenomenal here,” Fuller added. “My heart is broken … all I can hope for and hang on to is there’s a mistake.”
When asked for comment, McMullen issued a statement that “this story is old and tired. Nobody cares.”
“I left Allegany-Limestone in 2011. We have all moved on, the school, me, my children, the community — we all moved on from this so many years ago,” he said. “Someone drudging this up seven years later through anonymous phone calls to a newspaper and my employer, is only doing so with the malicious intent of hurting my children and me.
“It is harassment and they should be ashamed of themselves.”
McMullen said that he was told going into the process with the state was futile “and a foregone conclusion as their minds were made up and the deck was stacked with them and all of their endless resources against just me — without a lawyer.”
McMullen said the legal process with the Department of Education would have cost him tens of thousands of dollars to fight, which he did not have.
“Dozens of former colleagues, students, their parents and school board members wrote letters vouching for my character and performance and some testified to that and the facts of the case,” McMullen continued in his statement. “Unfortunately, this case was the residual damage of false and exaggerated statements made by a few people who wished to interfere with and influence a bitter divorce proceeding that did not end the way they wanted it to. I have never had a criminal record and I continue to do what I have done, with success, over the past 25 plus years — using my skills and experience to help people and children, in addition to raising my own children.”
