Bacchus wants that chair back
EDUCATION: Divided school board needs to find Richardson’s successor
The former long-serving chair of the Vancouver School Board says she is willing to serve again as the voice of the board, a position she lost during last year’s surprise election shakeup that saw Vision Vancouver lose its grip on the board.
Vision trustee Patti Bacchus confirmed she will present her name as a candidate at Wednesday evening’s special board meeting to elect a new chair — a vote that was triggered by the abrupt resignation from the chair earlier this month of rookie NPA trustee Christopher Richardson.
While she boasts the support of her Vision caucus, Bacchus, who held the position for six years before being bounced after the 2014 municipal election, said she is uncertain how the divided board will vote.
The nine-person board is split evenly between Vision and the NPA at four trustees apiece, with the lone Green trustee and interim chair Janet Fraser wielding an influential vote. It was Fraser’s vote last year in favour of Richardson that removed Bacchus.
“It is a tough job at the best of times and I would say much tougher now with a split board,” she said. “I appreciate the challenges that Christopher Richardson had. It is not easy to do.”
At the same time, Bacchus said, all nine trustees have worked well together within the past six months, finding consensus on most key issues and advocating collectively for the needs of the district.
“From what I’ve seen so far, we agree on more than we disagree on,” she said.
Fraser, meanwhile, declined to name her preferred choice for chair, but did say she is also considering putting her name forward. She said this vote is different from last year’s because the trustees now have a better sense of each other.
“We’ve worked together for six months,” she said. “We have a much better sense of who the different trustees are, how well we work together, and how each trustee would perform as chair. I’d like to have a chair that is respectful and collaborative and works well with the district.”
Bacchus said it is a critical time for the school board, which faces intense budget pressure.
Earlier this month,an Ernst & Young report commissioned by the Ministry of Education suggested closing 19 of the district’s schools to save millions of dollars a year. On Monday, the board announced Maquinna Annex in East Vancouver will not reopen in the fall. Enrolment at the annex, which serves students from kindergarten through Grade 3, dropped to 34 in early March from 41 last year.
And numbers at the annex fell to 22 at the end of April as a “number of parents (with children) in the upper primary grades chose to transfer their children to the main school,” according to a report posted on the school board’s website.