Windsor C-1 officials have named longtime employee Michael Holland as the new Windsor Elementary School principal.
He will take over that job on July 1, replacing Denise Funston, who is leaving the district at the end of the school year for a job as an assistant superintendent with the Festus R-6 School District.
The Windsor Board of Education voted 6-0 at a Feb. 5 special meeting to promote Holland, currently assistant principal at Windsor Middle School, to the principal job at the elementary school in Kimmswick, which enrolls 530 students.
Board member Michael Dubis was absent from the meeting.
The board awarded Holland a two-year contract as principal, with a $105,000 salary for the 2024-2025 school year. His current salary as an assistant principal is $97,082. Funston’s current salary is $119,000.
Windsor Superintendent Jason King said Holland was chosen “from a pool of four internal candidates for the position.”
“We are excited to see Mr. Holland named as the next principal of Windsor Elementary School,” King added “I am confident that his leadership and experience will greatly benefit students and staff, and I look forward to seeing Windsor Elementary thrive under his guidance.”
Holland, 46, of Festus said he appreciates the promotion.
“I’m excited and want to get started and am thankful in the confidence the district has shown in giving me this wonderful opportunity,” he said. “I’ve been an assistant principal for 12 years and was very interested in the opportunity to lead my own building, and, knowing the position Dr. Funston has that building in, it’s a great building, great staff and has great parent support.”
Holland said he has spent his entire 25-year career in education at that Windsor district, including three years as a third-grade teacher, 10 years as a fifth-grade teacher, six years as an assistant principal at Windsor Intermediate and six years as the assistant principal at Windsor Middle School.
Holland has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau and a master’s degree and a specialist’s certificate in educational administration, both from Missouri Baptist University.
He and his wife, Stephanie, have three children.
Holland said he is not related to Joel Holland, the former Windsor C-1 superintendent who retired from that job in 2022.