Garth Garris is stepping out of the principal’s office at Elkmont High School. His last official day is Jan. 29 at the school he’s called home as both a student and administrator.

“It’s been a fun ride,” Garris told The News Courier on Wednesday. “(Elkmont is) always dear in my heart.”

Garris has worked in schools both in Limestone and Madison counties over the last 25 years and lived in Limestone since he was a young man. None of that is going to change with retirement, Garris said, as he plans to continue living in Limestone and commute to Lincoln County, Tennessee, where he’s been named the next principal of Highland Rim Elementary School. 

“It was a good opportunity I couldn’t pass up,” Garris said about his new job, adding Lincoln County just hired a new superintendent, Bill Heath. “I’m excited about (Heath’s) vision for Lincoln County.”

Garris’ retirement is the latest in a string of county principals retiring, moving to other schools within the district or moving to the district’s central office. Garris is the second retirement after Bill Hardyman left Piney Chapel Elementary School in October. 

The Elkmont principal has enjoyed a varied career since he started as a history teacher and varsity boys basketball coach at East Limestone High School in 1991. He graduated from Elkmont in 1986. Late East Limestone coach Jimmy Drake helped put Garris into his first position, Garris said, and mentored him with coaching different sports over the next 12 years. Drake also encouraged Garris to further his education and become a certified school administrator. After leaving East, Garris spent the next three years as an assistant principal at Monrovia Elementary School and the following two years as an assistant principal at Hazel Green High School. In 2008, he was named the principal of Madison County High School, before returning to Limestone as Elkmont’s boys basketball coach in 2010. He became principal in 2013.  

“I love that,” he said. “I never thought I’d become a principal again. It’s not something I ever thought would happen. I loved every minute of it. I just can’t thank people enough.”

His long resume is all thanks to his education, Garris said. He tells children about the value of education, because “it’s brought me great joy over the last 25 years.”

“Without education, I never would have known these people,” he said about his staff and mentors. 

Now he’s preparing goodbye messages to the children and staff he’s cared for over the last two and a half years. 

“I love them very much,” he said. “I appreciate everything they’ve done for me. It was a joy to come work for them every day.”

The principal’s position at Elkmont is open on the Alabama State Department Education’s website. Garris said whoever takes over the school next is in for a “great job.”