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The dysfunction within the Vancouver School Board that led the British Columbia government to fire all of the trustees last year is overshadowing the by-election to replace them, with a trail of investigations and reports into bullying and harassment providing attack fodder for the campaign.

The board's nine trustees were fired by the previous BC Liberal government last October – nominally because trustees failed to pass a balanced budget. But the firing also followed allegations that trustees, in particular members of the governing Vision Vancouver party, "fostered a culture of bullying and harassment."

With a by-election scheduled for Oct. 14 – which was a campaign promise of the new provincial NDP government – school board candidates for the Non-Partisan Association are seeking to remind voters of that tumultuous time. The party's five school-board candidates released a platform on Tuesday at an event that focused on why the board fell apart rather than specific policies.

Candidate Lisa Dominato repeatedly brought up the need to create a "safe and respectful" environment within the board. She harked back several times to investigative reports that found school board staff were bullied by trustees.

Those reports included one released by WorkSafeBC, the province's workers' compensation board, that concluded some trustees' behaviour toward Vancouver School Board employees amounted to bullying and harassment. An internal investigation by the board reached similar conclusions.

Candidates with the Vision Vancouver party brushed aside the complaints about the past.

"We've got a record of getting things done. They don't," said Mike Lombardi, a Vision Vancouver school trustee for eight years, who is running again after he and the rest of the board were fired.

"Their focus [on the bullying] is a little gimmick," said Mr. Lombardi, part of a team of five running for Vision. He said the public can read the investigative reports and judge for themselves what happened.

Mr. Lombardi and other Vision trustees have argued that they were simply being strong advocates for parents and students at a difficult time. Former Green Party trustee Janet Fraser, also running to be on the board again after being fired, acknowledges that there is little that separates the parties when it comes to how to improve the school system.

"There's a lot of commonalities." She, too, says it's more about politics and attitude.

"Greens like to do politics differently. We work collaboratively. We work respectfully."

The NPA candidates at Tuesday's event called for faster replacement of the city's older schools that are vulnerable to earthquakes, more support for teachers, improved programs for special-needs, aboriginal, gifted and vulnerable students and additional language, arts and music programming.

Many of the issues that created so much friction just before the board was fired have altered significantly.

The debates over school closings are moot now because the district needs more space, as a result of a Supreme Court of Canada decision that ruled the province had to go back to smaller class sizes negotiated in a contract from years ago.

As well, local Vision and Green candidates believe the change to an NDP government, being supported by the Green Party, will alleviate other pressures.

The previous Liberal government had been requiring districts to close schools that weren't at capacity if they wanted to get money for earthquake upgrading. That policy is expected to change.

In addition to the candidates for Vision, the NPA and Greens, there are also candidates running for OneCity and the Coalition of Progressive Electors.

Sole Food Street Farms co-founder Michael Ableman says the farm in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside aims to employ local residents while growing good produce. One supervisor says working there helped turn his life around.

The Canadian Press

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