Student trustee on Vancouver school board says it’s been an ‘insane’ week
Posted October 20, 2016 11:12 pm.
Last Updated October 20, 2016 11:17 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The last trustee sitting on the Vancouver school board says it’s been an insane week.
Student trustee Isabella Preite told a crowd gathered to show support for fired Vancouver trustees Thursday that unlike her colleagues, she wasn’t let go, and will continue to fight for students.
“It is through these past few years that we have seen the direct effects on our education and we are sick and tired that we are not being properly prepared for the future,” she says.
She admits it will be interesting to be one of only two people sitting on the board, the other being the trustee appointed by the province.
A couple of hundred teachers, support workers and parents came out to denounce the province’s decision to fire the board.
“My sign says ‘Democracy not Dictatorship.’ I’m very upset that the provincial election would take away elected officials,” said one parent holding a homemade placard.
Organizer Chloe McKnight of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association is happy people came out to show their appreciation for the work the former trustees have done.
There might already be bad blood forming between teachers and the new appointed trustee.
Thursday’s gathering was slated to take place at John Oliver secondary school.
But McKnight says the location was cancelled – which she says has never happened before.
“We see it as a message from the new trustee and from the provincial government. We are concerned by the move.”
Trustees were fired on Monday for failing to pass a balanced budget back in June.
