Members of the Escambia County Board of Education approved a new leader for Escambia County Middle School during Thursday afternoon’s special called school board meeting in Brewton.

Escambia County High School assistant principal Linda Shuford was hired as the new principal of ECMS, replacing Zickeyous Byrd, who was hired three weeks ago to lead ECHS.

Shuford has 18 years of educational experience, the last four in administration.

Dale Jones, who served as history teacher and football coach at ECMS, was also hired as the assistant principal at ECHS, replacing David Lanier, who was hired as director and principal of the Escambia County Career Tech Center in Brewton during the last board meeting.

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Atmore Advance.