HOWLAND — New faces are joining the district for the 2026-27 school year, but a departing teacher expressed his appreciation to both the Howland Board of Education and the district’s administrative team.

During the public comments session of Wednesday’s regular meeting, the board heard from Edward Whittaker, a Language Arts teacher who spent 30 years with the district and served as president of the Howland Classroom Teachers Association for 13 years.

Whittaker’s retirement-resignation, alongside his wife, math teacher Carlene Whittaker, was accepted by the board at a March meeting.

Whittaker congratulated the new hires the board approved at the meeting, noting that two of them, Andrea Reilly and Bailee Beasom, are former students, and others are already teaching in the district.

Whittaker said he wanted to speak from his HCTA position, however, offering thanks to school board members for their willingness to serve the district.

“Thank you for being willing to lead this district in a time where there are a lot of headwinds pushing against public education,” Whittaker said. “I want to digress and go off the rails here on this, but I fear that those headwinds are going to push stronger this fall.”

“Continue to stay vigilant, stay informed, stay engaged in leading this district, as you’ve always done,” he added.

Whittaker noted his great relationships with Treasurer Julie Sloan’s office and Erin Pierce, supervisor of curriculum and instruction, but focused on his collaborations with Superintendent Kevin Spicher.

“Kevin and I started working together, collaborating when he was a principal, and I’d just become the union president and he came in as the new principal for the middle school,” Whittaker said. “One of the first things we started working on was dealing with Ohio Evaluation System 2.1, and our grow sheets — maybe we can do a district growth? We came up with a grid that we put into place.”

Whittaker said Spicher went on to become the district’s superintendent, and since that time, they negotiated four contracts, welcomed three new treasurers and three different health care provider changes together.

“We’ve worked through the closing and reconfiguration of a building in the district and restaffing — not to mention a global pandemic,” Whittaker said. “That was a lot of fun — we have had a great experience.”

Whittaker said he and Spicher don’t always agree or see two sides the same, but it’s always an “open dialogue” where the duo could come to a common ground to reach what was best for the students, staff and the community.

Looking back at his time teaching, however, he said he’s spent 30 years with the district, and his wife has spent 32 years, with her time spent between H.C. Mines and the middle school buildings.

“We are profoundly grateful for the time we have spent at Howland Local Schools; everything that we have — we have built a life,” Whittaker said. “First off, we were introduced to each other while working here; we’ve built a life together, we’ve built a home, we’ve built a retirement and we are blessed to be able to walk out at the same time and go on the next phase and step of our journey.”