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Stephen Goldstone, interim superintendent of the Berkeley School district since Feb. 1, said Tuesday that he has applied to become the district’s permanent superintendent. 

The Berkeley school board hired San Marcos-based search firm Leadership Associates in January to lure qualified applicants from around the country to the Berkeley post. The firm accepted applications for the job through April 6, and the school board hopes to hire a new superintendent by July. 

Goldstone, 61, began his career as a teacher in the Los Angeles area in the early 1960s. He was appointed superintendent of the Albany Unified School District in the early 1980s and subsequently served as superintendent in four other California districts, most recently the Vallejo City Unified School District. 

In a wide ranging interview Tuesday, Goldstone identified a number of the challenges that the next Berkeley superintendent will face and suggested some possible strategies for addressing them. 

A top priority for the district must be finding a solution to the achievement gap between white students and students of color, Goldstone said. 

Goldstone said the district needs to first “really analyze the information that (it) has” to determine exactly where students are achieving and where they are not. He also recommended that the district study school districts with similar demographics to find programs that have succeeded in addressing the achievement gap. 

Goldstone said Berkeley administrators need to “empower the (teaching) staff to develop programs” that improve student achievement. 

“It’s important to involve teachers early on in the process so it’s not seen as something we’re imposing on them,” Goldstone said. “Because they are the ones who are going to implement (changes).” 

Rozzana Verder-Aliga, governing board president for the Vallejo Unified School District, said Goldstone dealt effectively with the achievement gap in Vallejo by establishing teams of teachers to look at the issue of race and the ways it impacts student achievement. 

“They were looking at not only the academic issues, but what’s causing it,” Verder-Aliga said, adding that she felt Vallejo is now reaping the rewards of these efforts in the form of higher test scores. 

With 20,000 students, the Vallejo school district is twice the size of Berkeley Unified. 

Goldstone also said Tuesday that the Berkeley school district needs to reorganize to deliver support services to its schools more effectively. 

“How do we get the whole organization to be supportive of what’s happening in the schools and the classrooms?” Goldstone asked. “That’s a huge job – to be sure the district is seen as a service organization.” 

Berkeley School Board Vice-president Shirley Issel and others have complained recently that district staff do not provide data in a timely manner, making it difficult to hold people accountable at various levels of the school bureaucracy. 

Goldstone cited a recent job fair where district staff lured 250 highly qualified candidates to apply to fill upcoming teaching vacancies as an example of how district staff needs to be “proactive” to provide better support for schools. 

While Goldstone stressed that Berkeley High is one of the most impressive high school’s he has worked with in terms of its academic offerings Tuesday, he said the district must do more to improve safety for the school’s 3,200 students. 

“There’s not one kind of magic thing we can do, but a whole series of things,” Goldstone said, referring a number of fights and assaults at Berkeley High that have been publicized in recent months. “What we can’t do is just shrug our shoulders and say, ‘that’s the way it is.’” 

Goldstone also welcomed a decision by school and city officials last month to form a committee to exam safety at Berkeley High. 

“It’s a community issue not just a Berkeley High issue,” Goldstone said. “Everyone has a responsibility to provide the resources” to help improve the school environment, he said. 

Goldstone said reaching out to involve a broad cross section of the Berkeley community in improving Berkeley schools will be one of his guiding principals as long as he is in the superintendent’s office. He said the district needs to put in place a clear set of guidelines for how teachers, students, parents and others can participate in the school governing process. 

“We need to be able to articulate what that process is so people who truly want to have an impact and get involved know how that happens,” Goldstone said. 

“I really make a committed effort to get out to visit the schools; to meet with the staff, to meet with the students,” Goldstone added. “The real activity doesn’t occur in my office. It occurs in the classes.” 

Many have reported being impressed with Goldstone’s leadership of the district in recent weeks. 

“He’s really out there and trying to find out what are (teachers’ and students’ needs), and I think that really sets a tone” said Barry Fike, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, in a recent interview. 

Faced with the need to replace four district principals over the summer, Goldstone visited all four schools last week to ask what staff would like to see in their next leader. At Willard Middle School he dropped in on an evening PTA meeting to “brainstorm” what would make an successful principal at that school. 

“I didn’t expect (him) here,” said Willard parent Marge Sussman. 

“I liked the way Goldstone handled the meeting,” Sussman added, saying Goldstone had convinced her that the parents’ comments would really influence the search for a new principal. 

Goldstone’s record is not completely free of controversy, however. 

After he was selected as finalist in the search for a new superintendent in San Francisco last year, the Vallejo school governing board voted 3-2 to remove him from office two years before his contract expired. The move mystified many who credited Goldstone with passing a critical $133 million bond measure in 1997 and improving relations between teachers and administrators.  

“I’m still puzzled to this day,” said Verder-Aliga, who voted against firing Goldstone. In an interview Tuesday, Verder-Aliga said the bond measure would not have passed without Goldstone’s energetic leadership. She said Goldstone brought a great depth of experience to the job and credited him with making important strides in a number of areas. 

“It was a big loss for this district” when Goldstone left, Verder-Aliga said. “He ran this district like a business. He held everyone accountable. 

“Maybe some people didn’t like his style of leadership.” 

Vallejo governing board member Bill Pendergast, who voted to remove Goldstone, would not comment on the decision Tuesday. 

Since Goldstone was removed “without cause,” the Vallejo district paid him one year’s salary, or $121,000, in a settlement, Verder-Aliga said. 

Goldstone said Tuesday that he was ready to leave Vallejo when he did. He said he has been drawn the Berkeley school district since his years in Albany as a district with “tremendous potential.”