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Tuesday was the first day of school for Francis Lynch. 

Dressed in a white sweatshirt, Lynch, whom everyone calls Frank, stepped onto the Berkeley High School campus at about 1 p.m. – and immediately assumed the role of principal, with a campus tour, folks stopping by to congratulate him and a flood of calls from the press. 

Born in New York and growing up in Seattle and Palo Alto, Lynch, 53, comes to Berkeley after being a superintendent in the West Sonoma County High School District and King City Union High School District. He was a high-school principal in Petaluma for nine years and taught high school for a number of years earlier in his career. 

Why would anyone take on the job of BHS principal, a school that has had five people in that post over the last decade? 

Lynch hadn’t known about the swift turnover until a reporter brought it to his attention, but it didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. 

“I’d better get a multi-year contract,” he joked. 

He’d taken on the job because of Berkeley’s reputation – “It’s wonderful reputation; students with high test scores; a community that’s very involved,” he said. 

What about the kids that fail, the divide between those who succeed and those who don’t? 

The answer is “more time on task – Saturday, summers, after school,” he said. 

Lynch acknowledged that four years is a short time to work with students who come into high school ill-prepared, but he’s ready to work with them as well as the high achievers. 

Lynch didn’t flinch at the rather long list of problem areas he’d be facing. One is that BHS departments become a unit – a fiefdom, some say – unto themselves and don’t cooperate for the greater good of the school. 

“It’s a major concern,” he said. But one can understand how things get that way, with English teachers talking to other English teachers about what they’re doing and math teachers talking to other math teachers. 

“It’s not because they don’t want to collaborate,” he said. “The job of any principal is to bring them together.” 

That doesn’t mean holding endless meetings. “The question will be for me to give them something to collaborate on.” 

As for the fires on campus, Lynch said there’s no magic answer. “I don’t know how you prevent fires unless you have every square foot of campus covered by an adult,” he said. “Arson is arson. It happens in the community.” 

Lynch said he hasn’t worked in a district as diverse as Berkeley, but he was superintendent in King City, which he said was 88 percent Hispanic. 

The biggest challenge, Lynch said, will be “gaining credibility as a person. It will take a while. Staff will have to get to know me.” 

He believes he can gain staff confidence by providing the resources teachers need to do a good job. “It won’t happen overnight,” he said. 

He said he puts a value on diversity, particularly in an urban setting. Youngsters from a setting such as Berkeley have a better grasp of life, he said. 

Lynch’s enthusiasm for the job appeared boundless. “Being in education is wonderful,” he said. “I like kids.”time to work with students who come into high school ill-prepared, but he’s ready to work with them as well as the high achievers. 

Lynch didn’t flinch at the rather long list of problem areas he’d be facing. One is that BHS departments become a unit – a fiefdom, some say – unto themselves and don’t cooperate for the greater good of the school. 

“It’s a major concern,” he said. But one can understand how things get that way, with English teachers talking to other English teachers about what they’re doing and math teachers talking to other math teachers. 

“It’s not because they don’t want to collaborate,” he said. “The job of any principal is to bring them together.” 

That doesn’t mean holding endless meetings. “The question will be for me to give them something to collaborate on.” 

As for the fires on campus, Lynch said there’s no magic answer. “I don’t know how you prevent fires unless you have every square foot of campus covered by an adult,” he said. “Arson is arson. It happens in the community.” 

The biggest challenge, Lynch said, will be “gaining credibility as a person. It will take a while. Staff will have to get to know me.” 

He believes he can gain staff confidence by providing the resources teachers need to do a good job. “It won’t happen overnight,” he said. 

Lynch said he hasn’t worked in a district as diverse as Berkeley, but he was superintendent in King City, which he said was 88 percent Hispanic. 

He said he puts a value on diversity, particularly in an urban setting. Youngsters from a setting such as Berkeley have a better grasp of life, he said. 

Lynch’s enthusiasm for the job appears boundless. “Being in education is wonderful,” he said. “I like kids.”