New VSB chair will face hurdles on many fronts
Reason for Richardson’s departure remains unclear
The Vancouver school board will vote June 24 for a new chairperson, a job that promises to be challenging because of possible upcoming school closures, tensions with the provincial government and a politically split board.
Former chairman Christopher Richardson resigned Monday in a surprise announcement, citing “deeply personal matters.”
On Tuesday he wasn’t saying why he resigned, but said it isn’t for health reasons or because of the provincial government’s release last week of a report calling for the closure of 19 Vancouver schools.
“If I wanted to avoid (closing schools), I think I would have quit (as trustee),” Richardson said. “That had nothing to do with my decision. I think that’s why we’re elected — to make those tough decisions.”
The 236-page, $370,000 Ernst & Young report said as much as $37 million a year could be saved if 19 under-capacity schools were closed.
Richardson also said his resignation was not prompted by the reaction he received from Vision city councillors last week when he spoke about medical marijuana stores and was criticized for being unclear whether he was speaking for the board or personally.
Nor, he said, was his resignation due to the political split on the board, which has four NPA trustees, four Vision trustees and one Green trustee.
“The split on the board is a challenge and it’s something that is on everybody’s mind on a daily basis,” Richardson said. “If I was worried about that I wouldn’t have accepted the chair in the first place.”
Richardson was elected chairman in December. The vote was by secret ballot, but the results suggest that the lone Green trustee and now interim chair Janet Fraser supported Richardson. She holds the balance of power on the split board.
Fraser did not want to be considered for chairperson in December, citing inexperience. She now says she is considering taking on the job, but hasn’t made a decision yet.
“I’ve seen how challenging the role of chair is, so it’s something I’m considering,” Fraser said. “We have the close attention of the minister, we have to run our school board effectively, we have to live in a political world. I think all of those things contribute to the challenge.”
She said it’s tough for the chairperson to walk the line between the government, other trustees and the public.
“It’s very difficult because the ministry holds all the cards,” Fraser said. “They allocate the money, they determine the funding for the seismic mitigation project, we’re tied to this 95-per-cent utilization plan and they passed Bill 11, which further strengthens their powers. That will be very difficult to navigate.”
Bill 11 gives the B.C. government more power over individual school boards and teachers’ professional development. It was approved by the government this spring.
Former board chair and current trustee Patti Bacchus said she hasn’t discussed with the other Vision trustees whether she would be willing to stand for the top position again.
“I’ve enjoyed being out of the chair and being able to speak my mind more freely, as I tend to do,” Bacchus said. “Politically, there’s going to be some tough stuff coming up and whoever’s in it, even though ... the chair doesn’t make decisions, you do take a lot of heat.”
Richardson will continue to serve as a trustee. He said there isn’t a plan in place for the June 24 election but that there have been discussions about how the vote might go.
The board votes for chairperson each December.
The board has until June 30 to submit its budget in response to the report, as well as a longterm facilities plan that should include a strategy to deal with the issue of excess space in the city’s schools, notably on the east side.