Editor’s note: if you haven’t been following this story, we recommend taking a look at The Anchor’s initial story for further context.

New West’s mayor, BC’s education ministry, and the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) are the latest to share their thoughts, days after school board trustee Dee Beattie affirmed she was the person behind a burner account on Twitter—@alfromnw.

The admission came after New West parent Sarah Arboleda called Beattie out over Twitter, adding that the trustee—in her second term on school board—had left a spate of online bread crumbs allowing Arboleda to put two and two together.

Since Beattie confirmed the allegations late Friday afternoon, she announced she’d be taking a medical leave of absence, which she is entitled to under the School Act. However, as of deadline, she has not resigned from the school board, despite being asked by the board to do so.

She did, however, resign from Community First, the slate she ran with.

“I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed in what took place,” New West Mayor Patrick Johnstone, who also ran with Community First, told The Anchor on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t have a lot to say about the revelations of it, except that I need to respect the school board’s need to manage their process, and address the concerns that the school board may have.”

Johnstone noted he wasn’t sure of what mayor and council could offer at this point in the revelations. “I don’t necessarily think it’s helpful for someone from city council to interfere with [the school board’s process]. I’m watching, and I share community concerns. I don’t see my values reflected in the discussions that took place online.”

“I saw that [the board] put out a statement, and they are going to, I guess, use their code of conduct to address it, which is probably appropriate. But again, I don’t think it’s helpful or necessary for city council to get involved in that conversation. We are two different entities.”

When asked if Johnstone knew whether he was a target of harassment by Beattie through her Twitter account, he said he couldn’t be sure.

“I have no idea,” he told The Anchor. “I have a significant number of trolls on all social media platforms who I tend to mute because I don’t find it pretty useful. I am known for getting engaged in social media discussions because I think it’s important to reach out to people, and talk honestly to people about things. I’m managing my own challenges in how I manage the trolls, and in trying to recognize good faith conversations.

“That’s a challenge for everybody right now. It’s unfortunate, but it’s what we’re trying to deal with.”

On the part of the province’s Ministry of Education and Child Care, it provided a brief response to The Anchor, noting it was aware of the situation in New West, and that it was in contact with the school board. It added that boards of education are elected local bodies, and that they are accountable to their communities and their constituents, including parents and students.

DPAC’s confidence in board ‘destroyed’

On Sunday afternoon, New West’s District Parents Advisory Council (DPAC) issued a statement demanding that the school board immediately find a way to rebuild the trust that had been broken after Beattie’s admission.

"Ms. Beattie’s behaviour, where she spent years bullying and harassing parents, educators, media, and former trustees, is unacceptable. This behaviour was not a one-off decision, this is a pattern of calculated, intentionally hurtful, and targeted behaviour by someone that sits on the District’s Anti-Racism Advisory Committe,” said the council.

“Not only has Ms. Beattie egregiously contravened the Trustee Code of Conduct, she is now asking for taxpayer dollars to be spent for her to take time off.”

“Our question to the board now is how will you rebuild the trust that has been broken? What actions will you take to rebuild trust in this community? We need immediate actions.”

The statement, which you can read in full on the DPAC website, is signed by chair Laura Kwong, Kathleen Carlsen, Cyrus Sy, Renee Mosi, and Sue Kenny.

The school board will be meeting on Tuesday, June 20 at 7pm. This is the final board meeting before the end of the school year.