A school trustee denies he fell asleep during a recent public meeting, despite a photo and caption claiming he did.

That photo, posted on Facebook, sparked a furor at Wednesday’s regular board meeting and underscores a deepening divide between its members and partner groups.

The photo shows trustee Dave Rempel with his head down and a caption reading: “First paperless board meeting – $25,000; Trustee asleep – priceless.”

The photo was taken by the vice-president of the district parent advisory council, Todd Hill, who added the caption, then posted the photo to his personal Facebook site and circulated it to the media.

Rempel claims the photo was not only inaccurate, but defamatory.

He defended himself at Wednesday’s regular board meeting, saying that he was not asleep, but feeling ill, and merely resting his head in his hands.

“I indicated to the board that I wasn’t feeling well, but I decided to stay [for the meeting] given the problems we’ve had with quorum,” he said at the meeting.

Currently, only five trustees sit on the seven-member board and at least four trustees are needed at the board’s meetings to have a quorum. In August, a board meeting was cancelled when only three trustees could make the meeting.

“I have attended more than 300 meetings and committees as a trustee, and over all of those I’ve never [fallen asleep],” Rempel said.

“I’m very disappointed I even have to speak to this.”

The board issued a press release defending Rempel, describing him as being in “an action of contemplation,” and characterizing Hill’s action’s as “cyber-bullying.”

The board also chastised trustee Stepan Vdovine for posting comments on the Facebook site that Rempel only woke up to vote against him.

Vdovine was absent from Wednesday’s meeting due to a work conflict, he said.

“This past behaviour is not an example of the behaviour the board condones, nor is it the type of behaviour we believe stakeholder groups condone either,” board chair Cheryl Ashlie read from the release on Wednesday.

“It is time for all of us to model the type of behaviour that we would be proud of and like our students to exhibit.”

Representatives from those stakeholder groups were in attendance at the meeting, and in a tense exchange, accused the board of bullying and trying to stifle fair comment.

“Why, as elected politicians, does the board feel they are exempt from public criticism,” asked CUPE local 703 president Leslie Franklin.

Ashlie responded that if someone publishes something that is inaccurate, the board has a right to defend itself.

Ashlie also noted the figure quoted in the caption, referring to the cost of a computer program meant to streamline board meetings and simplify the agenda prep process, was also incorrect, and only cost the district $14,000.

After the meeting, Ashlie went further, calling out the photo as a politically motivated attack.

“It’s the election,” she said. “They know darn well Dave is potentially the only trustee running [for re-election] in Maple Ridge.”

It’s all part of a campaign by certain members of CUPE and Maple Ridge Teachers’ Association to undermine the current board, and take control of the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school board in the next election, according to Ashlie.

Hill, however, believes it was the board who was out of line, trying to quash political dissent.

In a letter sent to media, Hill accused the board of treating those who attend the board’s public meetings with a lack of respect.

“[An] unfortunate amount of time and taxpayers’ money has been squandered by our present board in dealing with those they feel oppose them politically,” he stated in his letter. “As a parent and taxpayer, I hope the incoming board will focus its attention on my children’s education.”

SD 42 meeting