State Suspends Certificate of Tutor Who Worked Inside Shelton High School

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction has suspended the Washington education certificate of a tutor employed by the Skokomish Tribe who worked two school years inside Shelton High School, citing a pattern of multiple incidents of inappropriate interactions with students in Mason County and, later, in Nebraska.

William Heelan may not request reinstatement for at least 24 months, according to a Final Order of Suspension signed by OSPI Deputy Chief Legal Officer Monique Malson. The order is dated July 23, 2026.

Heelan was issued Washington Education Certificate No. 399469F on July 10, 2002. The order notes it is a substitute teacher credential with no expiration date.

The order states Heelan was employed by the Skokomish Tribe as a tutor at Shelton High School during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 school years. 

The district describes itself as serving the Squaxin Island and Skokomish Indian Nations.

The Findings of Fact begin on February 23, 2017, when the state says Heelan used physical force trying to remove a student from what it calls the Indian Education Room. 

After he made contact with the student, the findings state, the student grabbed him by the throat and pushed him. Heelan then removed his glasses and moved toward that student until a second student intervened.

The Skokomish Tribe issued him a written warning and placed him on 60-day probation on March 3, 2017, the order states.

On February 17, 2018, while working in a concession area at Shelton High School, Heelan made repeated physical contact with a female student, touching her shoulders, back and lower back, according to the findings.

The findings describe two more incidents on November 14, 2018. The order states Heelan struck a student on the head at Shelton High School and directed "hard profanity" at that student, and directed "hard profanity" at a second student the same day. 

A week later, on November 21, the Shelton School District wrote to the Skokomish Tribe stating that, because of those behaviors, his services were no longer desired in the district.

The order lists Heelan's tribal employment as covering only 2016-17 and 2017-18, and does not explain his presence there in November 2018.

The findings then turn to Nebraska. Heelan was hired as a math teacher at Pope John XXIII Central Catholic High School in Elgin, Nebraska, for the 2022-23 school year and made multiple inappropriate sexually themed comments to students, according to the order. 

On February 10, 2023, the order states, the Nebraska Education Commissioner's Office filed a complaint from the school's principal and administrator alleging professional misconduct. 

Heelan voluntarily surrendered his Nebraska credentials in July of 2023. Under Nebraska rule, a voluntary surrender is treated as an indefinite revocation for purposes of publicity and reinstatement.

That surrender brought the matter to Washington. OSPI's Office of Professional Practices was notified through the NASDTEC Clearinghouse on or about September 20, 2023, the order states. 

The final order came nearly three years later, and Heelan's non-expiring Washington credential remained in place throughout.

OSPI concluded that Heelan committed unprofessional conduct under WAC 181-87-060, which covers flagrant disregard or clear abandonment of generally recognized professional standards in instructing or supervising students, and found "clear and convincing evidence" of unprofessional conduct under WAC 181-86-170.