Chilliwack – In a Facebook post on December 10, Chilliwack School Trustee Teri Westerby explains why he will step away as Vice Chair, and will remain as Trustee. His decision was not an easy one, according to Westerby. Margaret Reid is now Vice Chair. David Swankey remains as Chair.
From Trustee Westerby:
Last night, I made the decision to step back from my role as Vice Chair and I want to share with you all some of my personal learning and reflections. But before I get into that, I want to extend my sincere congratulations and gratitude to my colleagues.
Congratulations to Dave Swankey on being acclaimed Chair for a second term.
Dave is the kind of leader who reminds you that strength can be gentle, that steadiness can be kind, and that leadership is at its best when it’s shared. He models a way of being that is rooted in collaboration, humility, and care. I’ve learned so much simply by watching how he carries himself, how he listens, and how he makes room for all of us to lead beside him. I’m grateful for the example he sets. As a parent of young children in our district, Dave leads with both the long view and the lived experience of someone who sees our system through the eyes of a father. That perspective infuses his work with sincerity and purpose.
Congratulations also to Margaret Reid, our new Vice Chair.
Margaret has a clarity and groundedness that makes people around her feel supported and steady. With her upcoming capacity in 2026 and her long-standing commitment through BCSTA, she’s stepping into this role at exactly the right moment. Her leadership will strengthen our board, and I’m excited to see the way she continues to grow and guide us. She, too, is a parent of young children in our schools, and that connection gives her leadership a rootedness in the everyday realities families face.
And I want to express my deep gratitude to the staff of our district.
Serving as Vice Chair this past year has given me a front-row seat to the care, skill, and wisdom that our staff bring to their roles every single day. The work of a school district is vast (much of it unseen) and it takes thousands of decisions, relationships, and acts of service to keep our system moving.
Being in this role taught me so much about what real leadership looks like: not the loudest voice, not the biggest title, but the consistent, thoughtful, everyday commitment to students and families. I’ve learned from you: your patience, your professionalism, your creativity, your dedication.
This is part of why it’s so important for trustees to move through different leadership positions over time. These roles deepen our understanding of the district, strengthen our decision-making, and help us grow into more thoughtful, collaborative governors. Sharing these opportunities makes us a stronger board, and ensures all of us are learning, not just a few.
Our board is strongest when we share responsibility; when we recognize that leadership doesn’t have one shape, one voice, or one personality. The beauty of our team is that we each bring something different, and in that diversity, something powerful emerges.
With that—
I also want to share something personal.
For a long time, I have carried roles and responsibilities the way many queer, trans, neurodivergent people do: with a fierce determination to prove I belong in spaces that were never designed with us in mind.
I learned to be capable when I was overwhelmed, calm when I was struggling, steady when I was hurting. I learned to be the one who holds everything together, even when I wasn’t holding myself.
But as the end of this year approaches, something in me has shifted.
I began to understand that leadership doesn’t mean carrying everything.
It doesn’t mean abandoning your own needs.
And it doesn’t mean shrinking your humanity to fit the shape of a system built decades before people like me were ever allowed to lead openly.
Over the past few months, I’ve been learning to listen to myself more closely – to the soft places, the tired places, the places that need air and room and gentleness. I’ve been learning to choose my path with intention instead of expectation.
Stepping back from this role, for me, was an act of strength and self-love.
It’s an act of alignment.
It’s me choosing to lead in a way that allows me to stay true to myself.
I remain fully committed as your trustee.
I remain present, engaged, and deeply invested in the work ahead.
This decision helps me create greater sustainability, in my own life and leadership as well as in the board as we move into an election year ahead.
But more than anything, I hope this moment helps widen the lens of what leadership can look like.
Because leadership was not built for queer, trans, neurodivergent people…
and yet here we are.
We are leading anyway.
We are reshaping the space simply by existing in it fully.
If someone out there, a young queer kid, a trans teen, someone who has never seen themselves reflected in positions of authority, reads this and feels their own world crack open just a little wider, then this was the right choice.
If they see that leadership can look like softness and strength at the same time…
that it can make space instead of taking it…
that it can be human, vulnerable, imperfect, and still powerful…
then I’m exactly where I need to be.
Thank you to my colleagues for their trust and support.
Thank you to the staff, students, and families who make this work meaningful.
And thank you to this community for holding me through one of the most transformative years of my life.
Here’s to shared leadership.
Here’s to growth.
Here’s to showing up as our whole selves —
and letting that be enough.
