New Westminster school board trustee Dee Beattie resigns

Dee Beattie, the New Westminster school board trustee behind a scandal on X — the platform formerly known as Twitter — has resigned from her position.

The board made the announcement at a meeting Tuesday evening, saying Beattie plans on moving out of New Westminster to focus on her health and retirement.

Both the board and the City of New Westminster were getting calls for her resignation. In June, parents told CityNews they were being harassed by an account on X under the name Allan Whitterstone, mocking those who spoke out against certain community issues. When the scandal broke and it was revealed that Beattie was behind it, she told local media she was experiencing health issues and was taking a medical leave of absence.

Related video: New West parents say Twitter troll may be school trustee

New West parents say Twitter troll may be school trustee

Not your ordinary Twitter troll. A New Westminster couple says they believe a school trustee is behind a burner account they say has been harassing them and others in the local school community. Monika Gul reports.

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However, at the time, she did not resign from her position, and the school board didn’t have the power to make her do so.

While a motion put forward Monday by coun. Paul Minhas didn’t explicitly ask Beattie to resign, it suggested as much, asking staff o look into how ready New Westminster was for a trustee byelection.

Mayor Patrick Johnstone interjected after Minhas brought it forward, saying the motion was not relevant to the chamber, adding it breached a municipal bylaw. Johnstone asked Minhas not to mention Beattie by name again.

“We should avoid allegations which impugn the character of individuals or organizations specifically,” Johnstone said.

Read more:

• New Westminster city council appears to dismiss school board trustee scandal

• New West school board can’t force trustee to resign

• New West parents say Twitter troll may be school trustee

Council briefly discussed the details and costs surrounding a potential school board byelection, but no ground was made on Beattie’s removal at the time.

Now that Beattie has resigned and her position with the school board is vacant, the board says a byelection will be held to fill her position. A date for this byelection has yet to be decided.

The board says a municipally appointed chief election officer will decide when a byelection will be held.

Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to show Minhas’ motion did not explicitly call for Beattie’s resignation.