After eight years as Sequim Middle School principal, Brian Jones is looking for the next step in his education career.

Call it a semi-retirement.

The Sequim School District is searching for the middle school’s next principal following Jones’ recent announcement that he’s retiring.

Jones, 62, and his wife, Sandra, are in the process of moving to Spokane.

Jones said he was happy with what he accomplished at Sequim Middle School in his tenure, the long-

est position he’s held in the education field.

“This was the best year ever,” Jones said. “When I got here, this was just a grade 6, 7 and 8 school. Now we’ve grown into a middle school. We hired really well (with staff who are) energetic and dedicated to our middle-level kids.”

Jones lauded the staff and students, pointing to decreasing number of disciplinary referrals, successful trials of single-gender classrooms and student-led conferences, and strong team-building among teachers.

Jones said he’ll miss the people he worked with, particularly the office staff and assistant principal Scott Harker; the two worked together for three years.

Now that he’s “retired,” Jones said he’s looking to stay active in education by doing some consulting with a state association and possibly with the Gurian Institute, an education enrichment and professional development organization whose founder, Michael Gurian, is based in Spokane.

Jones’ daughter Gabrielle, a 2007 Sequim High School graduate, recently graduated from Eastern Washington University in Cheney, just outside of Spokane.

World traveler

Jones is a veteran of middle school teaching and principal positions from Singapore to Saudi Arabia, Guinea to Qatar, New Jersey to Wisconsin, and, before becoming Sequim Middle School’s principal in 2005, director of learning and school improvement and district assessment coordinator in Omak.

He spent his first year teaching at Orange Middle School in Orange, N.J., before joining the Peace Corps for three years in Sierra Leone, in West Africa.

He spent several years abroad, teaching and leading programs in West Africa and Asia before settling into a principal position at Niagara Middle and Elementary School from 1994-2000.

Jones then took a job as Omak Middle School’s principal from 2000-2004 before becoming Omak’s director of learning and school improvement.

He was selected as the Olympic Region Principal of the Year for 2011-2012 by the Association of Washington Middle Level Principals.

Reach Michael Dashiell at miked@sequimgazette.com.