Former East Granby Teacher Named Schools Superintendent in Litchfield

Orange Superintendent of Schools Lynn McMullin is on the move again.

McMullin was hired to become the new schools superintendent in Litchfield, and will earn a salary of $163,000, the Register Citizen reports. She will leave Orange in January. She was hired in August of 2011 in Orange.

McMullin said she took the job because it’s closer to her home and she is excited about the ability to lead a school system that offers a K-12 system. Orange is a K-6 school system.

McMullin spent 15 years in Canton including time as an assistant superintendent of schools, and she taught English in the East Granby school system.

When McMullin was hired in Orange, a group of parents mobilized in opposition to the process the school board used to hire her. Parents didn’t specifically criticize McMullin, but they felt there were other candidates that should have been given greater consideration for the job.

Read the full Register Citizen story here.

This is what Orange Patch wrote about McMullin when she was hired in August 2011 by the Orange Board of Education.

The Orange Board of Education is pleased to announce they have reached an agreement with their new incoming Superintendant of Schools, Lynn K. McMullin of Southwick, MA. Ms. McMullin will be replacing the retiring and current Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Tim James by the end of this calendar year. Ms. McMullin was chosen from a group of 14 applicants through a process of numerous interviews, recommendation verifications and a forum at which participants from numerous groups and the public chosen by lottery were given a chance to ask questions of each of the final three applicants.

Ms. McMullin is the Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Canton, CT. She received her Bachelors Degree in English and Masters Degree in Education from Westfield State College in Massachusetts. She has an additional 45 graduate level credits from Fairfield University, the University of Connecticut, and Central Connecticut State University.

She completed her Sixth Year Degree in Educational Leadership at Central Connecticut State University. Before heading to Canton, she was a teacher at East Granby High School for eight years and Suffield High School for three years. In 1993, she was East Granby’s “Teacher of the Year” and the runner-up at the state level that same year. In 2002, she was presented with the same honor in Canton.

She first joined Canton in 1996 as an Advanced Placement Language and Composition teacher and the English Department Chair. Through the years, she also taught 8th, 9th, and 10th grades, Creative Writing, Shakespeare, and AP Literature and Composition at the 12th grade level.

For the past five years, she has worked as Canton’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology. In that role, she worked closely with principals and teachers to develop new curricula in science, social studies, language arts, and PE/health, as well as led a committee of teachers, administrators, and Board of Education members to develop a new rubric-based Teacher Evaluation and Growth Plan.

Ms. McMullin has also worked to improve district-wide communications in Canton, including a ‘paperless’ initiative and an award-winning webpage, as well as adding many new technology programs to the curriculum and classroom instruction.

Throughout the interview process, Ms. McMullin presented creative ideas for education and for incorporating technology in classroom instruction, budget analysis and seeking alternative funding streams to support programs. She presented a no nonsense “down to earth” approach to education, focusing on the students, and is committed to being visible in the schools. She takes pride in listening and taking a collaborative look at problem solving.

Ms. McMullin is committed and excited for the challenge of bringing Orange Public Schools to the next level of education. The Orange Board of Education believes Ms McMullin is the right person to energize education in Orange.