When New Westminster school trustees tried Tuesday night to appoint their board representative to the B.C. Public School Employers' Association, they discovered they may only have one trustee who isn't in a potential conflict of interest.
School boards usually appoint representatives and alternates to both the employers' association and the B.C. School Trustees Association and New Westminster does their appointments at their inaugural meeting each year.
MaryAnn Mortensen is the only trustee without a clear conflict of interest for the appointed position, and she has not accepted the position because, as a new trustee, she's not sure what the position entails.
And with child-care issues, Mortensen isn't sure if the job will involve either her or her husband having to take time off to care for their children.
Trustees Michael Ewen, Dave Phelan and Jonina Campbell are all teachers, James Janzen is a CUPE member for his day job in Burnaby, and Casey Cook has a daughter who works in the school district.
Lisa Graham's potential conflict of interest involves her husband, David, who works in operations at BCIT and until just recently, nobody in the district knew that he's a CUPE member.
"I haven't declared a conflict yet," Graham told The Record on Wednesday morning. "I have requested a legal opinion because I want to find out one way or the other. ... I've requested the secretary-treasurer (Brian Sommerfeldt) to get a legal opinion so that I can have some clarity on this matter.
"The second I have certainty, in the form of a legal opinion, I will declare a conflict of interest if it exists. ... Right now, I don't know if I'm in a conflict."
Sommerfeldt confirmed with The Record Wednesday morning that Graham has emailed him asking for a legal opinion.
Graham said she'll be interested to find out what the legal opinion says, because there aren't any comparable cases in the district.
"The difference between me and James (Janzen) is that I'm not a CUPE member, my husband is," said Graham.
She also referenced the case of outgoing trustee Brent Atkinson, who was told to leave an in-camera meeting concerning teacher negotiations because his two daughters teach in the district.
"The difference between (my case) and Brent's is David doesn't work in the district," said Graham.
Mortensen said the issue of conflict of interest needs to be looked at seriously by the board.
"We need a comprehensive review of conflict of interest before we get down to the work we need to do as trustees," said Mortensen. "We're not lawyers, so we need to get clarity on this. ... People need to have confidence that we are not in a conflict of interest or in a perceived conflict of interest ... and that means getting a legal opinion."
Mortensen said she didn't learn until Nov. 30 about Graham's husband's job and she wasn't going to venture an opinion on whether Graham is in a conflict of interest.
"I'm not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole," said Mortensen.
New Westminster school trustees currently do not have a BCPSEA representative or an alternate representative for the job.
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