Image: SD33 / The Chilliwack school board has censured Heather Maahs (right) for an unspecified breach of confidentiality and subsequently removed her from in-camera meetings for the duration of the 2023-24 school year. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Chilliwack Board of Education

Chilliwack school board censures trustee for the 3rd time

Feb 14, 2024 | 8:30 AM

CHILLIWACK — The Chilliwack Board of Education has censured trustee Heather Maahs for the third time in a year.

According to a statement on its website Wednesday morning (Feb. 14), the school district says 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.

As a result of the breach, the board says it has 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.

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The board did not reveal the exact nature of the confidentiality breach.

Earlier this week, Maahs said her motion requesting a detailed report on vandalism to SD33 washroom facilities 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.

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.

In a March 2023 statement released by SD33, the Chilliwack School District said the violation involves a duty to support the integrity of the board and its decision-making processes.

“Trustees have an obligation to carry out their duties faithfully, diligently, and in a manner that will inspire public confidence in the ability and the integrity of the board,” the statement from SD33 noted. “Trustees will accept the decisions of the Board and support proposed actions in the implementation of a decision, regardless of holding an opposing position in debate or casting an opposition vote.”

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.

“It is expected that trustees will listen and work to be responsive to the concerns of community members; however, being seen to campaign with community members against the decisions of the board and district staff, and the actions of district staff and of students, is inconsistent with board policy,” the statement continued.

SD33 said its next step involved the hiring of an external facilitator to help the board in achieving this goal.

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

In December 2023, the board censured Maahs over what she said was an apparent refusal to remove a news story from her social media accounts that was considered critical of the school district and its policies.

“The Board of Education hereby issues a formal censure against Trustee Maahs for contravening Policy 130 – Trustee Code of Conduct. This action is taken in response to actions demonstrating her continued public opposition to inclusive practices that are endorsed by the Board of Education,” the formal notice on the SD33 website stated on December 12.

SD33 trustees met in a special in-camera meeting on Dec. 12 to censure Maahs. The news release from the school district did not elaborate on the specific circumstances involving the censure.

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. 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 home parents and guardians.

In response to an inquiry from Fraser Valley Today, Chilliwack School District Superintendent Rohan Arul-pragasam confirmed in September 2023 that questionnaires are typically given to SD33 students and are common practice.

“Surveys are a common way for a classroom teacher to get to know their students, and the attached survey is no different, all while upholding the principles of the B.C. Human Rights Code,” Arul-pragasam said in an email.

It’s unclear whether the questionnaires are mandatory or optional for students to complete.