Chilliwack school trustee denounces censures, says Board of Education did not follow protocol

In March 2023, the board censured Maahs for a violation of the trustee code of conduct. The censure occurred at a special in-camera meeting of the board on March 16, 2023, and involved a duty to “support the integrity of the board and its decision-making processes.” The statement indicated that Maahs did not uphold those responsibilities in her support of a campaign against staff-selected learning resources in the district, and in her opposition to a student-led event conducted in accordance with the core values promoted by the school district.

“The Board is committed to building board cohesion to support good governance,” the SD33 statement concluded from March 2023.

Maahs countered that the Chilliwack school board, currently governed by a progressive 5-2 majority and headed up by chair Willow Reichelt and vice-chair Dr. Carin Bondar, doesn’t follow its own established rules.

“I would like to point out that this board does not abide by its own processes as outlined in the code of conduct. The first censure was done illegally, according to our own policies, as I was not present,” Maahs said. “At that time, the board emailed every single school district employee, defaming me without cause and again, did not inform me.”

The second censure in December 2023 pertained to a Fraser Valley Today story from September 2023 that Maahs refused to remove from her social media accounts. According to Maahs, the censure first began to materialize after she shared a news story from Fraser Valley Today on her Twitter and Facebook accounts that detailed concerns from a Chilliwack parent whose child was given a survey at an SD33 middle school. Maahs said she experienced pushback once she shared the story and did not relent to pressure to remove the social media posts.

The story that Maahs disseminated on her social media accounts featured a Chilliwack family that had concerns about a questionnaire that had been given to their student at a school in Chilliwack in September 2023. The family indicated they weren’t sure what direct relevance it had in relation to mathematics, language arts, science, English, social studies and other subjects. Further, the Chilliwack family expressed concern that parents would not see the survey before students returned it to their respective teachers, and believed parents should know about questionnaires given to students.

The questionnaire that was distributed at a school in Chilliwack queries students about their favourite bands and musical artists, their favourite things to do when they aren’t at school, favourite foods, least favourite foods, favourite movies and TV shows, if they have pets and if yes, what kinds of pets, along with their favourite season, favourite colour, what is one thing that students learned in English and social studies the year prior, and what students hope to learn in English and social studies during the current school year. The questionnaire as provided to Fraser Valley Today asks students for their legal name, their preferred name, suggested pronouns like he/him, she/her or they/them, and whether their preferred name can be shared with others in class, with other teachers, or in emails sent to parents and guardians at home.

“The second censure dragged on in-camera for three months in spite of a 30-day limit time frame, before it censured me, just before Christmas, because I refused to take down an article on a practice of this school district,” Maahs said. “Three months.”

According to a statement from SD33 addressing the third censure dated Wednesday, February 14, the school district said the board met on Tuesday, February 13 to address an alleged breach in confidentiality by a member of the board. The board discussed the matter during an in-camera meeting. After deliberation, the board concluded that Maahs, the longest serving member of the Chilliwack school board, had not upheld board member confidentiality guidelines as laid out in section 7.4 of bylaw 5. The board did not reveal the exact nature of the confidentiality breach.

As a result of the breach, the board said it had taken steps to remove Maahs from in-camera meetings for the remainder of the 2023-24 school year.

“The board is committed to working collectively to ensure integrity in our closed meetings and will be participating in a future board learning session, specifically on trustees’ obligations to uphold confidentially,” the statement read.

The breach of confidentiality may have stemmed from a motion Maahs submitted, requesting a detailed report on vandalism to SD33 washroom facilities, but was denied. Maahs had asked for a comprehensive report on the amount of vandalism in school district washrooms since the implementation of gender-neutral washrooms. That request was entirely excluded from the February board meeting package.

“For the third censure, the chair nor anyone from this board had the courtesy to email or make a phone call,” Maahs said. “No information was forthcoming about the decision to censure me, yet again. I later discovered that the statement from the board, which was never sent to me, was then placed on the front page of every school (website) in this district. This board seems to believe it may simply make up its own rules regardless of the code of conduct policy.”

Maahs says she will request the minutes from the last in-camera meeting that details the action the Chilliwack Board of Education has taken and any related instructions to staff.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack school trustee denounces censures, says Board of Education did not follow protocol

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