Central Okanagan school board chair, Lee-Ann Tiede.

Image Credit: Submitted/reelectlee.com

At the height of the COVID-19 vaccine debate the RCMP had to step in to get an anti-vaxxer to stop haranguing Central Okanagan school board chair Moyra Baxter.

That was on Remembrance Day 2021 when she got something like 26 phone calls and 120 emails from one woman.

Now, almost a year to that day, Lee-Ann Tiede – who was called “our trustee” on a 1,000 name petition against vaccine mandates that was sent to the school board – has replaced Baxter as chair. Baxter didn't run for re-election this year.

Tiede was elected chair at the school board’s inaugural meeting yesterday, Nov. 9.

“What happened last night was shocking,” Baxter told iNFOnews.ca today. “I’m not calling her that (antivaxxer), but everyone knows it’s what she’s doing because it’s became very public over the past year or so.”

Baxter was likely the most harassed school board chair in the province as the school district became one of the first in B.C. to require all teachers and staff to be vaccinated.

READ MORE: Kelowna school board chair may be the most harassed in B.C. by anti-vaxers

That mandate was not implemented as COVID restrictions eased but Tiede and Amy Geistlinger – who was acclaimed as Lake Country trustee in October – both consistently voted against the majority on every COVID-related issues.

Leading up to the election, the anti-vax sentiment shifted to opposing the provincially mandated sexual orientation and gender identity policy (SOGI123) that Tiede referred to as “politics and propaganda.”

READ MORE: Why the sexual orientation policy in Kelowna schools is not 'propaganda'

A board chair has to be elected by a clear majority of the seven-member board, meaning Tiede got at least four votes so has the support of the board if she wanted to push an anti-SOGI agenda.

“Technically, they could refuse to implement curriculum and resources but then the province would remove the board,” trustee Chantelle Desrosiers told iNFOnews.ca, adding she has no idea if that’s the direction the board is going to take.

Desrosiers was vice-chair of the board for the last 2.5 years and ran against Tiede to be the new chair.

Incumbent Julie Fraser also ran for the position then was elected vice-chair.

While Baxter and others may have found the outcome shocking, it came as no surprise to Desrosiers.

“It’s interesting when people publicly display what their values regarding students are and it will be interesting to see how that plays out in the next term,” she said.

Tiede was supported and cheered on by a large crowd of like-minded people at the meeting, including at least three people who ran for election as ParentsVoice candidates, Desrosiers said, noting Tiede stressed the importance of parent’s rights in her acceptance speach.

“The reality for me is, and will always be, that I prioritize students,” Desrosiers said. “It’s about student voice. Student need. Student support. We need our students to succeed and students should be the centre of every decision.”

The board needs to focus on pushing for more spaces for students in a district that grows by the equivalent of one elementary school every year, she said.

The concern here, from Baxter’s perspective, is that few people pay attention to school board elections.

She referred to a recent article in the Baltimore Times about groups trying to take over school boards in the U.S. with their anti-vaccine and anti-sexual orientation leanings and sees the same thing happening here.

“They will not be able to cancel anything to do with SOGI resources,” Baxter said. “They will not be given the power – which some of the candidates in ParentsVoice said – to look at every book that goes into school libraries and ban some of them and have them removed. They will not be able to do that.

"And, Indigenous education is part of the curriculum now. The curriculum in British Columbia is Indigenized in that it refers to First Nations and the First Nations way of learning. They can’t do anything about that."

Tiede did not respond to a request for an interview by publication time.

READ MORE: Mysterious slate of right-wing school board candidates on Vernon, Kelowna ballots

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