New Vancouver School Board chairperson Christopher Richardson said it's premature to say who he’d recommend as VSB vice-chair.
The chairperson recommends who should serve as vice-chair, chair the board's committees, liaise with which schools and represent the board with the B.C. Public School Employers’ Association, the library board and other agencies. Who assumes those roles will be decided at a board meeting Dec. 15.
Richardson, a special constable for the Vancouver Police Department who was directing traffic Tuesday afternoon, said chairs have traditionally made recommendations along party lines.
“It’s certainly my intent, in my discussions with Janet [Fraser], is that I’m hoping we can come up with a fair and equitable allocation of responsibilities,” Richardson said. “The idea is that this is the first step towards that collaboration and cooperation.”
The Green Party’s Fraser got school board watchers talking and tweeting Monday evening when the board of nine trustees elected the NPA’s Richardson over longtime chair Patti Bacchus of Vision by a 5-4 vote. The newly elected board includes four trustees each from the NPA and Vision with Fraser as the lone Green.
Richardson said he hasn’t promised Fraser “anything specific.” But he noted the school board aims to be the greenest district in North America so there will be opportunities for Fraser and her Green agenda.
The only incumbent NPA trustee is Fraser Ballantyne.
“Given his 35 years in the system and also three years as a trustee, he will be my institutional memory but also, frankly, will assist the entire board as being the institutional memory which can be so important when we potentially rediscover the wheel,” Richardson said.
He said he’ll also find a role for Bacchus, who has been board chair since 2008. He noted she received a “quick and forceful” standing ovation Monday night for her six years of service as board chair.
As a chartered accountant, Richardson works with charities and non-profits and provides advice to charities and donors about charitable gifts. He typically sits on three or four boards at a time.
Richardson, whose younger son has severe dyslexia, hopes to help convince the provincial government that investing in early assessment and help for children with special needs would pay future dividends.
“I certainly understood through my son’s experience that the earlier you diagnose something, the less likely it is that you’re dealing with preventable behavioural issues… that whole self-esteem issue,” he said.
“If we can borrow money from the justice silo, if we can graduate people who have dealt with their learning difficulties in the school system, then those individuals won’t be expressing difficulties later on.”
Richardson also wants a forum where former trustees and trustee candidates could build on what he sees as a wealth of good ideas.
“Because once you run for office, you keep an eye on it. There’s some ownership,” he said. “You can never get it out of your blood.”
The 59-year-old resident of Kitsilano is a three-time park commissioner, president of the Mount Pleasant Community Centre Association, sits on the board of the Maritime Museum, and is a trustee with the Health and Homecare Society of B.C.
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