LangleyAdvance
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Friday, September 17, 2010
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Education
School board chair leaves post
Joan Bech has resigned from the school board and is moving away.
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flict that would have taken away from the board’s ability to serve students,” she said. Because the next school election is not until November 2011, the resignation will force a byelection to fill her seat. by Heather Colpitts The by-election will cost an hcolpitts@langleyadvance.com estimated $50,000-$75,000. The Bechs sold their Langley The district announced her farm and are moving to the resignation Thursday morning, Central Coast. saying it is effective immediateJoan Bech had planned on finly. The next public school board ishing out her third term on the meeting is Sept. 21. Langley School District board of Bech told the Langley Advance trustees. that she informed the other The long-time Langley resident trustees of her resignation on was a trustee, as well as havThursday morning, but told ing been elected the them recently that she chair of the board in and her husband were December 2008. in the process of selling Her surprise resigtheir farm. nation announcement Bech said that, while came Thursday morthey’ve sold their farm ning. where their two children “It had, however, were raised, it’s not full been my intent to retirement. finish my term and They own property on save the district the the Sunshine Coast, and expense of a by-electhe intention has been Joan Bech tion,” she said in her to move to that region. Former school board chair resignation letter. She’s hoping the resigThe plan was for nation will help the disher to take the ferry, if she had trict move forward. to come to Langley, and main“I have tried to hold this tain most of her communications board together, and to build via telephone and computer. compromises that would allow But those plans changed. the district to move forward in “Individual trustees have a constructive manner, even called for my resignation, forethough at times it tore me apart shadowing another needless con- personally,” she said in her let-
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ter. “I will not allow my status of the dysfunctional relationships as a trustee to become the focus between board members. of more battles.” Bech said the timing of her Bech was at the helm when resignation is about when the the district discovered that, farm sale was finalized, not the instead of a modest surplus it AG’s report. had a deficit, and by “It’s just what the timthe time the math ing happened to be,” This story first she said. was done over he appeared as ensuing months, that The past few years deficit was pegged at breaking news at have also seen a great $13.5 million. deal of acrimony among www.langleyadvance.com That sent the disthe trustees and between trict, hat in hand, to the district and the comthe provincial government, askmunity, as several local schools ing for four years to resolve its were reconfigured or closed. financial problems. The Langley Teachers’ The Langley district also just Association calls the resignareceived an Auditor General’s tion an “unneeded distraction” report that made various recomthat could keep the district from mendations on how to improve carrying out the AG’s recommenthe district. The report, made dations. continued on page A12… public last Friday, did take note
Cruise-In resurrected Langley’s pre-eminent charity car show will be back in 2011, after a one-year hiatus.
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Board chair Joan Bech (third from the left) oversaw the spring vote on school closures.
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Thousands of car enthusiasts will be back in Langley on Sept. 10 and 11, 2011 for the revival of the charity car show known as Langley Good Times Cruise-In. Langley Advance files
However, the 2010 Cruise-In – which would have been held last weekend in downtown Langley City – was cancelled – a decision made back in January after a number of issues, including public safety, a lack of volunteers, by Roxanne Hooper and bureaucratic red tape, were rhooper@langleyadvance.com raised. Langley Good Times Cruise-In Cruise-In president Riccardo is back, but with a few modificaSestito and vice-president Keith tions. Wilson met with City officials, A resounding cheer Langley City Mayor was heard echoPeter Fassbender, and ing through Langley RCMP, and managed to This story first Wednesday night as iron out a lot of those appeared as the announcement was issues last week. breaking news at made public that the With that achieved, www.langleyadvance.com directors and voluneveryone is back on teers of the non-profit board, said Sestito, findsociety agreed to give it another ing himself getting excited about try. the new challenges that lie ahead. The long-time charity car show His enthusiasm was shared by has attracted upwards of 100,000 Fassbender. people every year to Langley, and The mayor said he was raised upwards of $120,000 per “delighted” to hear the news year for local charities over its Wednesday. continued on page A8… 13-year history.