New Westminster parents, school board call on trustee to resign for Twitter trolling
Trustee Dee Beattie apologized for mocking community members with a fake online account
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 Arboleda discovered the account's identity and revealed it last week on Twitter.
New Westminster school board trustee Dolores Anita "Dee" Beattie <a href="https://twitter.com/DeeBeattie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@deebeattie</a> has been using a troll account under the name of Allan Whitterstone <a href="https://twitter.com/AlfromNW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@alfromnw</a> to harass parents, teachers, and even the head of the BCTF for years here on Twitter. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SD40?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SD40</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NewWest?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NewWest</a>
—@NewWestSarah"It's such an incredible betrayal of everything that they are supposed to be doing in that role," said Arboleda.
Arboleda 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 Arboleda and her husband, including saying Arboleda was whining, and stating her husband was exhibiting "typical tradesman bully behaviour."
Arboleda 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, Arboleda 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 Arboleda knew for sure.
Health issues
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.
"For a significant period of time, I have had health issues, including chronic pain and mental health issues that increasingly became worse. I should have done this sooner but I have finally realized I must seek medical intervention to heal myself and refocus."
While the fake account has now been deleted, screenshots dating back to October 2021 show the account responding to community members' tweets, including mocking a parent for expressing concern about their child getting COVID-19 in school and trolling the former president of the B.C. Teachers' Federation for calling on the province for more COVID-19 safety measures in schools.
In a more recent tweet from May 2022, the account posted a photo of the child of a former school board trustee and revealed the child's location.
"I just don't know who does that," said Arboleda.