A change of the guard is now underway at one local middle school.

According to documents issued from Elizabethton City Schools, Chris Berry was promoted to T.A. Dugger Junior High School principal effective Friday, Feb. 16.

Berry was promoted to the position following the move of previous principal Randy Little to Elizabethton High School to be a teacher. In another move, Joe Diaz, a former teacher at EHS, will now be the assistant to the principal at T.A. Dugger, joining Berry and current assistant principal and athletic director Jason Carter. Diaz’s move was made effective Monday, Feb. 19.

With the move, the school maintains stability and a familiar face for what is to be expected a busy time at the school, according to Director of Schools Dr. Corey Gardenhour.

“Chris Berry has given Elizabethton City Schools many years of dedicated service,” Gardenhour said in an announcement about Berry’s position change. “He is highly respected among his peers and has been an excellent leader at T.A. Dugger. We are excited to see how that leadership will continue to transform the school and create new opportunities for our junior high students.”

Berry has been at the middle school since 2007 and was promoted to assistant principal in 2015. During his time at the school, he has stayed active by coaching various sports and assisting with extracurricular activities. Diaz also assumes his leadership role at the school following a decade of service at EHS as a social studies teacher.

Moving forward, Berry will oversee a school that is in the process of attempting to complete renovations.

ECS officials have worked closely with City Council on a strategy to complete renovations at the school which include additional STEM classrooms, new restrooms and the elimination of older classrooms not adjoined to the building.

During Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, officials passed a resolution expressing the city’s intent that any expenditures from certain additions and changes at the existing facility at TAD will be “funded by proceeds of bonds of other indebtedness to be issued by the City of Elizabethton, Tennessee.”