A Chilliwack school trustee has been asked to resign by the board he sits on.

The school board held an in-camera meeting on Jan. 12, before the regular public meeting, and voted in favour of asking Barry Neufeld to resign. Neufeld had already been censured previously with the ramification being he can鈥檛 attend in-camera meetings.

Neufeld didn鈥檛 respond to the statement, which was read by vice-chair Jared Mumford. The meeting was held via Zoom.

About five minutes later, Neufeld steps away from his computer and shortly returns. He leans in and lights a cigarette, and then takes a drink from a wine glass. Immediately after that, his video feed cuts out.

He also appears to fall asleep shortly after his video feed restarts. All of this takes place during a presentation by Sardis secondary staff to name their field after successful sports alumnus Rick Klassen.

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Board chair Willow Reichelt said they will be looking further into the matter.

鈥淭rustees are expected to set a good example and display professional conduct at all times,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e will be addressing this matter internally.鈥�

The Chilliwack school board joins a list of those asking Neufeld to resign. The calls stem from a Nov. 19, 2020 Facebook post in which he used the R-word to describe several staff at The Chilliwack Progress.

Then-Minister of Education Rob Fleming called for his resignation at the time, and newly-elected Minister of Education Jennifer Whiteside has echoed that call.

She also tasked two appointees to assess the board and its actions, and that includes interviewing members of the board and watching their meetings.

They will be submitting their final report to Whiteside on Feb. 26.

The Progress has reached out to Neufeld for comment.

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jpeters@theprogress.com
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