Patti Bacchus ousted as Vancouver School Board chair

Vision Vancouver'sPatti Bacchus has been ousted as the chair of the Vancouver School Board and been replaced bynewly-elected NPA trustee Christopher Richardson.

The change comes after Vision Vancouver lost control of the school board during the November civic elections, which saw the election of four Vision trustees, four NPA trustees and one Green trustee.

Bacchus was re-elected, but she did not hold on to her position as chair at a meeting Monday night.

She has been the chair since 2008, when she was first elected as a trustee. Under her tenure, the board has opened itsfirst Aboriginal-focused school of choice andan early Mandarin bilingual program, and expanded theMontessori programming and the first primary International Baccalaureate Program.

New NPAchair

Richardson, the newly elected board chair, was the last of nine trustees to be voted in during the election last month.

Hepromised to improve school resources for students with learning issues during the campaign.

According to his campaign bio, Richardson is a chartered accountant and has served three times as a Vancouver Park Board Commissioner.