Board of education chair James Janzen said he will apologize at tomorrow night's school board meeting for accusing a parent of having a "hard-on" over an issue.
"I plan to say I'm sorry," said Janzen, who admitted that he regretted using to the phrase during an interview with The Record last month.
In the interview, Janzen said: "I don't know why (Paul) has a real hard-on for Brian on this."
Janzen was referring to Paul Johansen, past president of the district parent advisory council and a longtime critic of the school district. Johansen took issue with a district decision to remove parent representative from a review committee.
Johansen confronted the district's secretary-treasurer Brian Sommerfeldt over the issue at a January board meeting.
Janzen defended the district's decision to change the policy, saying the district was advised by the privacy commissioner that it should remove the parent representative from the district review committee
Janzen's decision to apologize came after the board received a letter criticizing his behaviour from district parent advisory council chair Wendy Harris.
Comments made by Janzen in his capacity as board chair "personally attacking an individual with derogatory comments of a sexual connotation against this concerned parent were offensive and reflect negatively on the board as a whole," she wrote. "This behaviour is very disrespectful and only serves to damage relations and create a lack of trust between partners."
The board meets tomorrow night at New Westminster City Hall chambers at 7:30 p.m.
- with files from Alfie Lau
