HOWLAND — The district locked in a pair of administrative positions Monday, as one employee is moving up and another is being brought back on a new contract.

The Howland Board of Education approved granting Erin Pierce a three-year limited contract as principal of Howland Springs Primary School, effective Aug. 1, 2026, to July 31, 2029.

Pierce, the district’s supervisor of curriculum and instruction, will replace Carl Clark, who spent 18 years with the district and had his retirement resignation accepted at a March meeting, which is officially effective Tuesday.

The board also approved granting Michael Pollifrone a two-year limited contract as Howland High School’s assistant principal on a retire-rehire program. Pollifrone’s retirement resignation was also accepted at March’s meeting, but the board approved a resolution to initiate retire/rehire procedures for him, intervention specialist Mary Ellen Ross and fourth-grade teacher Marnetta Xides, after they expressed the desire to be rehired to their positions.

Superintendent Kevin Spicher said in March that such an agreement was negotiated between the Howland Classroom Teachers Association and the board to ensure school officials could retain staff who were sound in what they provided to the district.

Spicher said it gives the district the chance to retain the employees at a decreased cost. He also said the rehired employees are limited to two years of employment automatically.

“It’ll be a two-year (contract), and anything within that two-year — whether it’s administrative or HCTA — would fall under the jurisdiction of the superintendent to maintain,” Spicher said.

Pollifrone’s contract is effective Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2028, while Xides and Ross, who also received two-year limited contracts, will have theirs run from Aug. 1, 2026, through July 31, 2028.