Elected members of New Westminster’s schoolboard renewed a call for an embattled trustee to step down, after she was caught running a Twitter troll account mocking her constituents.
Last week it was revealed Dee Beattie was using the account to target parents and others in the community with disparaging comments, jabs and insults.
Beattie admitted to running the account and has taken a medical leave of absence but remains a paid member of the board.
At Tuesday’s meeting, board chair Maya Russell read out a statement condemning the trustee’s actions and asking her to resign.
“As a board we have been shaken by this news and we understand that members of our community are also shocked and disturbed — the conduct is absolutely unacceptable for anyone in elected office and do not reflect the values of the board,” she said.
“These me messages, sent under a false persona have caused harm to members of our community and they have damaged the trust that people hold in their board of education … As soon as the truth was known, as I said, our board called for the trustee to resign and we continue to stand behind the request so we can move forward and focus on the vital work we are doing to support students, staff and families.”
In an email to Global News last week Beattie said she was focusing on her mental health and was not responding to any requests for comment.
Last week, New Westminster parent Sarah Arboleda posted a Twitter thread accusing Beattie of running the account, which was registered under the name “Allan Whitterstone.”
Arboleda told Global News there were numerous clues that had suggested the troll was someone connected to the school board, but the “big reveal” came when Beattie posted a screenshot with location data indicating her actual address.
“I was expecting I was going to find out this was somebody’s brother, husband, sister, uncle, aunt, I thought it was going to be somebody close to the board who was maybe taking this too far,” she said.
“Truly I never in a million years thought this was going to be an SB trustee mocking the parents of toddlers. Shocked. And then quite angry.”
The Allan Whitterstone account made a number of insulting comments about Arboleda and her family, and even went so far as to identify a child in one case.
Arboleda said she agrees Beattie should step down.
“It’s not a matter of ‘She should pay for this because she’s done a bad, wrong thing,’ it’s that this is a pattern of behaviour inconsistent with someone who should sit on a school board to begin with,” she said.
“You cannot trust this person to have the best interests of students or parents or teachers.”
Beattie did not respond to a renewed request for comment following the board’s Tuesday night call for her resignation.
— With files from Kareem Gouda
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