On Monday, October 30th, three Greens were sworn in as Vancouver School Board Trustees. In the recent by-election, the three Green candidates—Fraser, Judy Zaichkowsky, and Estrellita Gonzalez—topped the polls, with each receiving more than 20,000 votes.

Janet Fraser, the top vote-getter in the by-election, was also elected and appointed chairperson of the board as part of the ceremony. She made remarks at the ceremony to honour the occasion.

"We at this board table are the nine newly sworn in trustees chosen by Vancouver’s voters to serve our students. We bring who we are to this table – we all have different cultural histories, experiences at school, as well as differences in work backgrounds and in our families – but we all bring our commitment to perform the duties of our office and work together as a board with respect and consideration."

Fraser covered some top priorities in her remarks including a commitment to reconciliation, nurturing relationships within the school system and with the BC government, and ongoing difficulties with teacher recruitment and retention.

This is also the first time a Green will chair the Vancouver School Board, and it happens to come at the same time that the chair of the Vancouver Park Board is also a Green, Mike Wiebe.