The Vancouver School Board (VSB) has been made aware of some privacy concerns that have been expressed about a social media post made by trustee Chien on April 23, 2025 in connection with the development of VSB’s Financial Plan.

Trustee Chien’s comments were made in the context of a public engagement process. VSB has established processes in place to engage in meaningful public engagement about important issues, such as financial planning. VSB is committed to supporting openness and transparency as a necessary part of public engagement on such issues. VSB’s practice is also to report publicly on the feedback that it receives.

Public engagement on the Financial Plan began on January 6, 2025 and closed on April 25, 2025. As part of this process the public was invited to make submissions. That invitation also made clear that the process was an open one and that VSB may make submitted materials publicly available. DPAC provided its materials by separately emailing some 270 individual letters to trustees. While those letters were virtually identical, with a small number adding individual comments, each was signed by a different parent. 

We acknowledge that trustee Chien’s social media post included a screen shot of his email inbox, in which the first name and partial last name of some parents/guardians appeared in the subject line of the emails sent by the DPAC (in three cases a full last name appeared). No personal information relating to the contents of any letter was disclosed. 

We apologize if this disclosure was a surprise or has caused concern for any parents/guardians, and we confirm that the post has been taken down by trustee Chien on the morning of Sunday, May 4, 2025. While we acknowledge that some social media users have expressed significant concern about this incident, the community engagement process was intended to be an open one and trustee Chien’s public commentary about participation in the process should be understood in that light. 

Many thanks to those who reached out to express their concern.  VSB takes its privacy obligations seriously, and this incident provides a valuable opportunity to further examine how we can best balance public transparency and accountability with privacy interests.

Further inquiries on this matter should be directed to the VSB’s privacy office at privacy@vsb.bc.ca .

VSB Privacy Compliance Office