New Westminster parents, school board call on trustee to resign for Twitter trolling
CBC
New Westminster school board trustee Dee Beattie is being asked to resign by the board and parents after using a fake Twitter account to troll community members for over a year.
Screenshots posted online by a parent show Beattie's fake account under the name Allan Whitterstone replying with insults to tweets from parents and other community members.
The school board says Beattie has decided to take medical leave. According to school board chair Maya Russell the board does not have the ability to remove a trustee in this case under the School Act, but are requesting she resign immediately.
A Monday statement from the District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) says Beattie "is now asking for taxpayers' dollars to be spent for her to take time off."
"This behaviour was not a one-off decision, this is a pattern of calculated, intentionally hurtful, and targeted behaviour," reads the statement.
New Westminster parent Sarah Arboleta discovered the account's identity and revealed it last week on Twitter.
"It's such an incredible betrayal of everything that they are supposed to be doing in that role," said Arboleta.
Arboleta says "Allan" started harassing her and her husband last November, after they raised concerns in school board meetings about their daughter's daycare location being moved out of a local elementary school.
Screenshots show "Allan" replying to multiple tweets from Arboleta and her husband, including saying Arboleta was whining, and stating her husband was exhibiting "typical tradesman bully behaviour."
Arboleta says at first they would joke about the online hater, but became deeply uncomfortable when they realized it must be someone connected to the school board.
"In some cases it became clear pretty quickly that this was an attempt to silence us."
After digging, Arboleta said several clues tipped her off that the poster might be Beattie. But it was when the account posted a screenshot of a map, showing the poster's location to be at Beattie's address, when Arboleta knew for sure.
Beattie admitted to using a fake online account and apologized in a statement to CBC.
"I sincerely apologize to all of those who were hurt," wrote Beattie.
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