Oak Harbor School Board members won’t have to keep up with the Joneses much longer.

Kathy Jones, that is.

After an eight-year stint on the Oak Harbor School Board that saw major changes to schools and curriculum, board member Kathy Jones won’t run again when her term expires at the end of 2007.

She said her time on the school board was long enough and the district would be served well by a new face on the board.

“I think it’s time for new blood and new ideas on the school board,” Jones said. “I feel like I’m leaving the district in better condition than when I found it.”

Jones was appointed to the school board in April 1999 to fill Claudia Talmadge’s term. She was elected in November 1999 and again in 2003.

She originally decided to apply for the vacant spot on the board after years of volunteering for various committees in the school district. Jones said she was encouraged to apply for the spot by former high school principal Dick Devlin.

As a board member for the better part of a decade, Jones said she is proud of the work school staff has done strengthening the district’s curriculum. She noted the school district introduced advanced placement courses and vocational certificate programs during her tenure. Staff has also strengthened the gifted program and remedial education courses.

She is also proud of the school renovations and voter approval of several maintenance and operations levies that have happened while she served on the school board.

Jones also noted how the Washington Assessment of Student Learning has changed in recent years.

Originally used as a way to measure the areas where students are weakest, passing the test is now a graduation requirement for high school students.

While the WASL has helped improve curriculum, Jones believes its importance has become exaggerated in recent years.

“I think its best use is to guide teachers to identify areas where kids have trouble,” Jones said.

She said the WASL has become a do-or-die test and the high school has to offer classes to help students meet the new requirement.

Even though she said she’s honored to work with the talented staff and administrators in the school district, the school board is a huge time commitment that includes large number of meetings with parents, teachers and staff, and with the public.

In addition to serving as a school board member, she has her own business in Oak Harbor. She and her husband Jim have two children. Her son, Brian, who graduated from Oak Harbor High School in 1992, is a sales executive living in Oak Harbor. Her daughter, Meghan, is a teacher in Oakland, Calif.

Her seat on the Oak Harbor School Board isn’t the only one up for election in November.

Seats held by Vicki Harring and David McCool will also be on the November ballot.