{"id":393604,"date":"2026-07-10T17:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393604\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:04:22","slug":"you-can-apply-now-for-a-seat-on-the-berkeley-school-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/393604\/","title":{"rendered":"You can apply now for a seat on the Berkeley school board"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"School board directors are expected to attend two regular meetings per month, participate in school site visits and community events, and complete required training. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside\/CatchLight<\/p>\n

The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) opened applications<\/a> last week to fill the school board seat vacated by Ana Vasudeo, who is stepping down on July 1<\/a> to join the Alameda County Board of Education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The school board has opted to appoint her successor, rather than hold a special election. The vacancy comes at a time when the district is navigating multi-year budget deficits<\/a>, and board members have indicated that they want to return to a full five\u2011member board quickly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under state law, the appointment must be made no later than Aug. 31. Her successor will hold office for the remainder of Vasudeo\u2019s term, which ends in November 2028.<\/p>\n

Applicants must meet basic eligibility requirements, including being at least 18, a registered voter and a Berkeley resident. While in session, school board directors are expected to attend two regular meetings per month, participate in school site visits and community events, and complete required trainings.<\/p>\n

The application<\/a> includes nine short\u2011answer prompts designed to help board members understand candidates\u2019 backgrounds, interests and approaches to serving the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Applications must be submitted by July 29 at 4 p.m. to the board\u2019s executive assistant Lyz Chairez at lyzchairez@berkeley.net<\/a>. The board will review all completed submissions and select candidates for public interviews by Aug. 5.<\/p>\n

Interviews and a possible appointment are expected by Aug. 19, though the board may hold a special meeting the following week if needed to finalize the selection, according to recent board documents.<\/p>\n

What does a job application for school board director look like?<\/p>\n

The application requires a statement of interest in response to various prompts about district vision, commitment to equity and community representation, and board member priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A resume no more than two pages and three community or professional references are also needed. Candidates must also disclose any potential conflicts of interest, including public agency employment, family employed by BUSD, or district contracts.<\/p>\n

Short\u2011answer questions ask candidates to detail their experience in public education, governance, budgeting, labor relations, equity and other related areas. The application also asks candidates to explain their views on the board\u2019s responsibilities and its relationships with stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Applicants are further asked to identify BUSD\u2019s most significant opportunities and challenges over the next few years and describe how they would balance community concerns, student needs, staff recommendations and personal values when making decisions.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\tBerkeley school board to appoint new director as Ana Vasudeo steps down<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tJune 23, 2026June 23, 2026, 5:13 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\tJuly 2, 2026July 2, 2026, 4:22 p.m.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

“*” indicates required fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"School board directors are expected to attend two regular meetings per month, participate in school site visits and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[35779,6765,2465,2466,143,145,144],"class_list":["post-393604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-berkeley-school-board","tag-berkeley-unified-school-district","tag-home-highlight","tag-home-lead","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}