Departing Gwinnett County school board member Karen Watkins addresses attendees during a celebration honoring her and retiring board member Mary Kay Murphy last Thursday.

Gwinnett County Public Schools has changed a lot since Mary Kay Murphy first joined the county's school board in 1997, if for no other reason than it has seen explosive growth since then.

Just look at the clusters in her district. The Collins Hill cluster was still new when she was first elected to the board 28 years ago and the Peachtree Ridge and Lanier clusters would later be established while she represented those areas. Other schools, such as the Paul Duke STEM High School, were created in Murphy's district during her tenure.