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New Westminster parent upset with DPAC

A Herbert Spencer Elementary parent doesn't like the district parent advisory council's handling of a vote on a controversial issue regarding banning acting teachers from serving as trustees.

A Herbert Spencer Elementary parent doesn't like the district parent advisory council's handling of a vote on a controversial issue regarding banning acting teachers from serving as trustees.

Tige Rains questions whether the vote reflects how the majority of parents feel, and she takes issue with the fact that the resolution was voted on via email - and not discussed and voted on at a regular district parent advisory council meeting. As well, the district advisory parent council members had just one day to email their vote on the resolution.

"They passed four resolutions at the open meeting, and this fifth one, which in my mind is the most controversial. ... This one, it impacts on who can run for a political position," said Rains. "If it was handled properly, if it was done in an open meeting where all of the reps had an opportunity to vote appropriately and all of the schools had time to do whatever discussions they wanted to have, and the outcome was the same, I wouldn't have an issue."

Rains has been emailing district parent council chair Wendy Harris searching for answers on the vote's process.

"I have not yet gotten a satisfactory answer as to why this was done so quickly, without the input," she said.

Rains said she isn't alone in her concern about the way the district parent advisory council is operating.

"This not just my concern," she said. "I know there are people out there, and other PACS that aren't happy."

The district parent advisory council is made up of parent representatives from each public school in New Westminster. The council executive passed the conflict of issue motion that calls for a ban against acting school board staff from running as school trustees. The British Columbia Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils, a group that lobbies the government on behalf of parents, recently accepted the resolution and will discuss it at its meeting in May.

The district parent advisory council's rationale on the resolution was that they want B.C. to follow Ontario and Alberta's lead in banning school board employees, including teachers, from serving as school trustees to avoid a genuine or perceived conflict of interest. Currently, in British Columbia, teachers are only banned from running in school districts where they work. New Westminster has three teachers serving on the seven-member board.

Rains is a teacher, but she insists that she doesn't have an issue with the bid to ban acting teachers.

"I don't have any interest in being a trustee," she said, laughing.

Rains is also concerned about the ongoing adversarial relationship between some executive members of the district parent advisory council and trustees, and she believes that it's unlikely that the resolution came out of the blue at the last minute.

Harris couldn't be reached at press time for comment. However, in an email exchange with Rains, she wrote that it is not "mandatory" for DPAC reps to consult with their school's parent advisory council before they vote.

"Should it be? Absolutely not," she wrote. "I'll refer you back to the point that DPAC reps are elected by their PACs, entrusted by their PACs to vote on DPAC matters."

The teacher-ban vote was eight for, one against and two abstained, according to Harris. There are 13 parent advisory councils in New Westminster.

"The vote results represent the majority view of those who voted. Same at meetings. Vote results at meetings represent the majority of those who come to meetings and vote on motions," Harris wrote.

"In answer to your last question on this particular email, if anyone remains unconvinced that this was, in fact, a transparent and fair democratic process, they would be questioning my integrity as DPAC chair," Harris wrote to Rains. "In other words, I realize that not every person can be happy with all five resolutions DPAC carried and submitted to BCCPAC, but there is no way for me to address unhappiness just because someone doesn't like a particular resolution."