Vision Vancouver and the NPA saw equal numbers of trustees on the Vancouver School Board and a single Green success Saturday night.
Vision’s Patti Bacchus maintained her position at the top with the most votes and newcomer Joy Alexander placed second.
In order of votes from most to least, the trustees will be:
- Patti Bacchus, Vision Vancouver
- Joy Alexander, Vision Vancouver
- Fraser Ballantyne, NPA
- Allan Wong, Vision Vancouver
- Mike Lombardi, Vision Vancouver
- Penny Noble, NPA
- Janet Fraser, Green
- Stacy Robertson, NPA
- Christopher Richardson, NPA
“I’m nervous. I’m floating around twelfth spot,” Vision’s Rob Wynen told the Courier at 10:25. Wynen, first elected trustee in 2008, lost his spot on the board, as did Ken Clement, the first aboriginal person elected to school board, in 2008, and Cherie Payne, who was elected in 2011.
Vancouver’s longest serving elected official, Ken Denike, who was first elected in 1984, also lost his spot on the school board. He and Sophia Woo ran with a new civic party called Vancouver 1st, after the NPA expelled Ken Denike and Woo in June over comments regarding the gender and sexual orientation policy. Woo was first elected in 2011.
Twenty-nine candidates vied for nine board spots. Those elected will serve a four-year term.
The Vancouver Elementary School Teachers’ Association and the Vancouver Secondary Teachers’ Association both endorsed all seven Vision Vancouver candidates plus the two candidates with the new Public Education Project, which only ran candidates for school board.
But neither Jane Bouey nor Gwen Giesbrecht of PEP was elected.
crossi@vancourier.com
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