He’s run a film festival in Princeton, been the host of a cable television show and finds time to help lead the Princeton Public Schools as an assistant superintendent, a job from which Lew Goldstein is walking away.
“It’s been a great ride,” said Goldstein, 62, after the Board of Education meeting on Oct. 30, when officials accepted his retirement. He is due to leave at the end of January after 19 years, with administrators already looking for his successor.
Goldstein said he made up his mind in the beginning of October to retire and is now looking forward to babysitting his grandchild two days a week and recovering the other three days, he quipped.
During the meeting, school officials lauded Goldstein and gave him a standing ovation.
“Lew has been an incredible source of counsel to me personally and to many superintendents in his 19 years here in the district. He’s also been an incredible friend,” Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said.
Cochrane then shared with members of the public in attendance and watching on television things people might not know about Goldstein, from his being a lover of jazz to attending every opening day of his favorite baseball team, the Mets.
At work in Princeton, Goldstein has been involved in negotiating contracts, hiring staff, serving on committees and even advising high school journalists, among a long list of accomplishments.
“He’s leaving a legacy,” Cochrane said. “But the legacy is really about people and you hear it in his words about everyone who retires. You hear it in his interactions with staff as he walks through the hallway. There are 800 employees in this district. Lew knows them all.”
Board member Debbie Bronfeld touched on the institutional knowledge Goldstein has, from the smallest personal details of staff members whom he has come to know.
“You have so much history about everybody,” she said, while seated across from Goldstein at the meeting. “I have really enjoyed learning from you.”
Board member Dafna Kendal shared how she and Goldstein have something in common.
“As a Mets fan, I know your true character and I respect that,” she told him. “I hope this is not goodbye.”
Goldstein, a Cranford resident, started the Nassau Film Festival in town and has also been the host of “This Week in Education,” a talk show on Princeton Community Television, the local public access channel. He also sits on the board of the channel.
“Lew is great,” said George McCollough, the executive director of the access channel. “I know he’s worked real hard for the school district and he certainly works real hard for us.”
Goldstein nearly left Princeton to become the superintendent of schools in Hamilton Township in 2011, but he took himself out of consideration for the job.
