A New Westminster school trustee is facing calls to resign after she was found to be behind a fake Twitter account used to troll parents and others.
On Friday, two-term trustee Dee Beattie admitted to being Allan Whitterstone (@AlfromNW), who has made harassing and disparaging remarks to parents and elected local officials.
She apologized and said she was taking a medical leave of absence.
But Beattie’s actions raise questions whether she is fit to be a trustee, says Sarah Arboleda, a New West parent who uncovered Beattie’s connection to the burner account.
“These are not the thoughts and opinions of someone who should be on the board and making decision for children,” said Arboleda on Saturday. “She has to step down simply because she is unfit to make those decisions and fulfill that role.”
Arboleda said she began getting nasty tweets from “Allan” last winter, after she and her husband began attending school board meetings. They were concerned about the daycare spaces in elementary schools moving out of the downtown core.
“The comments were pretty consistent throughout the interaction,” said Arboleda.
“Often this person would tweet us a couple days after the meeting… something to the effect of whiny parents who don’t know real hardship, try to live in Ukraine or Syria.”
In one recent exchange, Arboleda called out the school board for their decision to move daycare spots to portables instead of classrooms.
“Allan,” replying two days later, said: “Good grief, still whining. Move on.”
The burner account has since been deleted, but Arboleda captured some of the exchanges in screenshots she posted on her account @NewWestSarah).
The fake account also targeted other elected officials in New West, including trustee Danielle Connelly, former trustee Mary Lalji, and councillors Daniel Fontaine and Paul Minhas.
She took potshots at parents who expressed worry about their child getting long COVID during the pandemic and at then-B.C. Teachers’ Federation president Teri Mooring after she called for more COVID protections, including masks, at schools.
She also trolled Melania Trump and Meghan McCain.
After each unpleasant tweet directed at her or her husband, Arboleda would spend a few minutes trying to find out who the person was.
There was no record of an Allan Whitterstone anywhere else online, so Arboleda figured it was a troll account.
Her sleuthing paid off one day when the person sent them a screenshot of a Google Maps image showing the route of a daycare location at Qayqayt elementary to the new daycare. The image also showed a blue dot indicating where the person was at the time they used the search function of the map.
The location in the Sapperton neighbourhood corresponded with Beattie’s address, which was publicly available in her nomination papers.
In addition, Arboleda found out the account used to operate under the name Blue Owl Terrace. A Google search of that name led to an Instagram account that used the nickname Deelightful.
The evidence was circumstantial but strong enough that Arboleda felt confident detailing her findings in a series of tweets last Wednesday alleging Beattie was behind the offensive account.
The next day, school board chair Maya Russell said the board has launched an investigation into the fake Twitter account.
Late Friday, Beattie issued a statement to local news outlets which had already covered the allegations, saying: “I admit to my role in using an online fake account and I sincerely apologize to all of those who were hurt by my actions.”
Beattie, who was first elected to the school board in 2018, said she will co-operate with a school district code of conduct review and has “stepped away” from her civic party, Community First.
“There is no excuse for what I did. 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.”
In a statement issued Friday, the school board said Beattie should resign immediately.
“The Board is deeply disturbed by the conduct and the harm this has caused to individuals in our community and to public confidence in our district,” it said. “This conduct is absolutely unacceptable for someone in public office and runs contrary to the district’s foundational values…”
Arboleda said she felt sad and angry after she found out the childish remarks were from an elected official. It’s one thing for a random person to make trolling remarks on social media, but another for a trustee who would tell them one thing “then turn around, log into a troll account and mock us,” she said. “It’s wildly unprofessional.”
She also objected to Beattie’s claim citing her health conditions as an excuse for her actions.
“Using chronic pain and mental health as an excuse is really insulting to people who live with that,” she said.
Beattie declined an interview request on Saturday, saying she will not be making any further statements and “I will be focussing (sic) on my health.”
Her official Twitter account (@DeeBeattieNW) has also been deleted.
The next New West school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday night.
