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Teachers, parents, students, and other citizens who think Berkeley classrooms don’t have sufficient textbooks or instructional materials get the chance to put their concerns on the record when the Berkeley Unified School District’s (BUSD) Board of Education holds a public hearing on the matter this week. 

The hearing—which is required by the state Education Code—will be held during the board’s regular public meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 7:30 p.m., on the second floor of the school administration building at Old City Hall. 

This will be the first meeting of the school board since a hotly-contested election earlier this month returned incumbents Joaquin Rivera and John Selawsky to the board. 

On the agenda is first reading of a proposed board member/employee conflict of interest policy. Among other things, the four page document is intended to cover gifts, honoraria, and the awarding of contracts, as well as criteria for when potential conflicts must be disclosed, and when board members are to be disqualified from voting. 

Scheduled for final reading is adoption of the district’s Integrated Policy for Nutrition, Education, Physical Activity and Food, which is intended to promote healthy eating by students while attending Berkeley public schools. 

The board is also scheduled to vote on a replacement for Carolyn Weinberger on the district’s Personnel Commission. The commission has three members, one each appointed by the board, the superintendent, and the Classified Unions. Weinberger was appointed to her position by the superintendent, but her seat on the commission—scheduled to run from December 2004 through December 2007—will be filled by the board. A third commission seat, which runs from December 2003 through December 2006, remains vacant. 

—J. Douglas Allen-Taylorƒ