Closed Door Meetings, a Police Call, a Stalled Motion

Parents and unions representing teachers and school support staff have been complaining for years about the Vancouver School Board’s lack of transparency, barriers to public consultation and increasingly secretive meeting practices.

During the Nov. 25 public school board meeting, trustee Jennifer Reddy presented a solution: a motion proposing significantly altered meeting access and board transparency.

The motion includes reopening the board’s five standing committees’ meetings to in-person public attendance, publishing all meeting agendas one week in advance, re-establishing public presentations at board meetings and restricting the ability to hold private board meetings.

The board sent the motion to its policy and governance standing committee, which is currently reviewing long-standing board policies on meetings and board conduct.

But before the committee had an opportunity to review the motion, the Vancouver Police Department got involved.

During the Jan. 27 public school board meeting, staff called the police on Vik Khanna, a former Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council chair.

Despite being asked several times by board chair Victoria Jung to stop recording the meeting on his cellphone — the meeting was also livestreamed and recorded by the district — Khanna refused. Nor did he leave the meeting when Jung asked.

Eventually the board moved the meeting to another room without Khanna. He later told The Tyee he left the original meeting room after associate superintendent Pedro da Silva informed him the police had been called.

“I like to record VSB meetings and I’ve done that before, and no one had an issue in the past,” Khanna said, adding that in the online recordings it is difficult to see trustees’ faces.

“I think it’s a democratic deficit if they’re asking people not to record at a public board meeting.”

In an emailed response to The Tyee’s request for comment, a district spokesperson noted it is the board chair’s responsibility to ensure “order, proper conduct and decorum” are maintained during meetings.

“While the public meetings are available via livestream and the recorded video available on YouTube, the use of personal recording devices can be disruptive and is therefore regulated,” the spokesperson’s email read, citing district Policy 7, Section 10.1.

“The individual was disruptive and behaved in an intimidating manner. This was not the first instance of such behaviour by this person.”

Like park board, like school board

Reddy’s motion has been popular with some parents, the Vancouver and District Labour Council and other members of the public. Ten people presented their case for passing it during the board’s two public delegation meetings since January. No one has publicly spoken against the motion at these meetings.

“Since this board was elected, there’s been greater barriers to accessing committee meetings, as well as just board meetings in general,” Markiel Simpson, an anti-racism advocate who has addressed the board in the past, said during his presentation at the March 5 public delegation meeting.

Some changes to how the board hears from the public, like limiting feedback to pre-approved presentations at monthly public delegation meetings, happened before ABC Vancouver dominated the 2022 school board elections.

But others, like the increasing number of board meetings held in private — an issue ABC park board members were recently criticized for by the city’s integrity commissioner — started during ABC Vancouver’s term.

For example, the March 10 public board meeting agenda referenced five private board meetings that had taken place since the previous public board meeting on Jan. 27. The agenda for that meeting listed another seven private meetings dating back to Nov. 25.

Trustee Christopher Richardson was kicked out of ABC Vancouver during the 2022 election campaign, while board chair Victoria Jung left the party last year.

But with three ABC Vancouver members still on the board — Joshua Zhang, Preeti Faridkot and Alfred Chien — the party still has the most seats.

Booted back to committee

When the policy and governance standing committee finally reviewed Reddy’s motion during its March 3 meeting, members spent little time discussing the motion before sending it back to the school board for their meeting this Monday.

During their three-hour evening meeting, the board spent over an hour debating amendments to Reddy’s motion.

However, on recommendation from secretary-treasurer Flavia Coughlan, the trustees voted unanimously to send the original motion, and its suggested amendments, back to the policy and governance standing committee.

That committee’s next and final meeting of the school year is May 14. If it does send a version of the motion back to the board with members’ recommendations, the board won’t be able to vote on it until May 26.

That’s six months after Reddy initially presented the motion.

Reddy requested an additional policy and governance meeting be scheduled in April. But Jung noted that wouldn’t be possible because April is budget month for the district, which must submit a balanced budget to the Education Ministry by June 31.

“I hear you. Of course, I think the budget would be potentially improved by the results of this motion, but OK,” said Reddy.