The issue was brought to the school's attention by parents and community activists. In an uncredited editorial in the Daily Californian, it's pointed out that the city is named after George Berkeley, who was a slaveholder himself. And Patrick Rodriguez of the California Patriot blog has awarded one parent who spoke at a public forum on the 17th with a "Flawed Moral Equivalency Award" for the following quote:

"I don’t trust that the discussion will continue or that my point in the discussion will be heard. We don’t discuss slavery or race in our history books now, not really...if the name remains Jefferson, people will not look on him as a controversial figure. They will see that as a confirmation that we see him as a hero. We don’t name schools after people we don’t respect. We don’t name schools after Hitler."

The vote is non-binding, and the final decision will be made by the board of the Berkeley Unified School District. SFist would like to point out that Jefferson's purported slave mistress, Sally Hemings, was actually his wife's half sister!