This record covers school board candidate Melanie Cheng's ten years of parent advocacy in Vancouver schools, which CBC, CityNews and The Tyee have reported on since 2023, the COPE platform Cheng runs on, and two published disputes from the period as chair of the district parent advisory council.
No public appearance by this candidate was confirmed in the sources checked on September 22, 2026. The voting dates below apply to every voter. An empty day is a gap in the research, not proof that nothing is happening.
Checked September 22, 2026 · All event times are Vancouver local time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
01 / Introduction
About Melanie Cheng
Melanie Cheng appears on the City of Vancouver's final 2026 candidate list for School Board, with ballot number 314. The City records the affiliation as COPE.
The party page says Cheng works as a senior paralegal and has used a law and governance background to speak for students and families in education over the past ten years. The party page says Cheng is a former chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council.
COPE's school board page says Cheng is a senior paralegal who has used a background in law and governance to advocate for students and families in education over the past ten years.
Cheng's campaign site says Cheng grew up in East Vancouver, holds a sociology degree from the University of British Columbia and has worked for more than 20 years as a senior paralegal in estates and trusts.
CBC reported on June 15, 2023 that Cheng was vice-president of the Graham Bruce Elementary parent advisory council and had attended the school as a student.
CBC, CityNews and The Tyee identified Cheng as chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council in reports published between December 2024 and November 2025.
The Tyee described Cheng on August 11, 2026 as a former Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council chair who is running for school board with COPE alongside Suzie Mah, Derrick O'Keefe and Gwen Giesbrecht.
COPE members chose Cheng as one of four school board candidates at the party's nomination meeting on May 12, 2026.
Cheng's campaign site says Cheng led the Save Bruce Field campaign from 2023, found the school board's subdivision plan through freedom of information requests in 2021, and that the field was kept as public land on October 1, 2025. The site also says Cheng received the King Charles III Coronation Medal in September 2024 for that work. No independent record of the medal was found.
CityHallWatch has republished analyses written by Cheng, including a February 23, 2026 piece on the gap between new housing approvals and school capacity and a March 6, 2026 piece on changes to the city's draft Official Development Plan.
Cheng appears on the Vancouver ballot as number 314 for school board trustee, according to the candidate list published on September 22, 2026.
voche.me assembled this profile from the official candidate list and the campaign material linked under Sources. The campaign has not been contacted, and no candidate-supplied content appears on this page.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
9 commitments shown · Checked Sep 22
2026 · School landCampaign pledge
Stop the sale and long-term lease of school land
COPE's school board page says Cheng has fought to protect public school land and will continue that work as a trustee. The party's school board platform lists protecting public school land from sale or privatisation.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party page states the commitment. It does not say what would happen to the 99-year Fleming Elementary lease that the board has already signed.
What still needs checking
Whether Cheng would try to unwind existing leases or only block new ones.
COPE's page says Cheng will push for transparency and accountability in school board decision-making.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The party page states it. In November 2025 The Tyee reported that the board kept meeting rules that parent and labour groups said reduced public input, and quoted Cheng's objection.
What still needs checking
Which specific meeting or reporting rules Cheng would move to change.
Cheng's campaign site says Cheng leads the Save Carleton campaign and wants the school reopened to serve new family housing in Joyce-Collingwood.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
CityNews reported on November 24, 2025 that Cheng started the Save Carleton campaign and was collecting petition signatures. The Vancouver School Board voted to close the school in December 2025, so reopening would require a new board decision and provincial money for seismic work.
What still needs checking
What the board would have to do to reverse the closure, and what the seismic upgrade would cost today.
COPE wants a pause on Microsoft Copilot accounts for students and on any student use of generative AI and chatbots in district schools until wider consultation happens. This is the party's position, reported by The Tyee.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The Tyee reported the position on August 11, 2026 and listed the concerns COPE wants consultation to cover: student privacy and safety, missing district policy, effects on learning and mental health, and environmental impact. Cheng is named in the article as a COPE school board candidate and is not quoted on this point.
What still needs checking
Whether Cheng states a personal position on the Copilot accounts already issued.
Cheng's campaign site lists childcare as a core issue and says Cheng stood up for childcare while chairing the district parent advisory council.
Evidence & next checks
Evidence reviewed
The site states it. Cheng's February 2026 analysis on CityHallWatch made the same argument about a Joyce-Collingwood rezoning that added family housing without childcare spaces.
What still needs checking
How many childcare spaces Cheng would seek on school district land, and by when.
Each entry below names its source. Campaign material is the candidate's own account. Nothing here is presented as a verified outcome unless the entry says so.
Approved
Graham Bruce Elementary soccer field kept as public land
Cheng's campaign site says the Bruce field was saved on October 1, 2025, ending the plan to subdivide part of it.
Scope, limits and sources
CBC reported in June 2023 that the Vancouver School Board was looking at subdividing 0.4 hectares of the field for sale or lease under its land asset strategy, and quoted Cheng opposing the plan as vice-president of the school's parent advisory council. The date of the final decision comes from the campaign site, not from an official record that was opened for this file.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
Statement
Density without classrooms: the growing crisis in Vancouver's school planning
An analysis by Cheng, republished by CityHallWatch, arguing that about 16,118 housing units approved across the city between 2023 and 2025 will add school-aged children in areas where schools are already full, and that the city, the school board and the province need to plan together.
Changes to the draft Official Development Plan removed school land protections
An analysis by Cheng, republished by CityHallWatch, reporting that wording saying residential uses are not intended on existing school sites was removed between the October 2025 and January 2026 drafts of the city's Official Development Plan, and asking how that change was made and why school communities were not told.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
Policy dispute
Dispute over the district parent council's antisemitism workshop
The Tyee reported that Independent Jewish Voices Vancouver and Parents 4 Palestine Vancouver objected to an antisemitism training session booked by the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council, which Cheng chaired. The two groups said the training could treat criticism of Israel as antisemitism and shut down discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The provider said it does not offer education or advocacy on that conflict.
Candidate or party response
The Tyee reported that Cheng declined an interview request and instead forwarded a letter from the Rabbinical Association of Vancouver supporting the training, signed by nine rabbis, which said the provider was chosen through a months-long process and a vote of the council executive. The Tyee reported that Cheng did not answer follow-up questions about that process.
Verified status and limits
The workshop was scheduled for the day after the article was published. No later published record of what happened at the session was found, and no finding by any body was made against Cheng.
Disagreement over who spoke for the district parent council
The Tyee reported on school board meeting rules that parent and labour groups said reduced public input. Cheng, then chair of the district parent advisory council, spoke to The Tyee only as a concerned parent and said no executive member would speak on the policy updates because they feared reprimand by the school board.
Candidate or party response
After publication, the council's secretary, Sherry Breshears, told The Tyee that the executive had not been consulted by Cheng about how they felt on the issue and that the executive had sent written feedback to the school board. No published reply from Cheng was found.
Verified status and limits
The Tyee added the secretary's statement to the article. No body made a finding, and Breshears is now a school board candidate for OneCity.
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
Reporting
CBC
Board's plan to subdivide soccer field raises fears of Vancouver schools losing playing surfaces
CBC quoted Cheng, then vice-president of the Graham Bruce Elementary parent advisory council, saying the school board was refusing to update its plan with housing and rezoning data and was defaulting to closure and consolidation.
Vancouver developer pays $8.5M for 99-year lease of school property
CBC quoted Cheng, as chair of the Vancouver District Parent Advisory Council, saying the Fleming Elementary community had made clear it did not want the development and that a 99-year lease set a precedent for other school sites, because the school board is the second-largest land owner in Vancouver.
After controversial land deal, Vancouver school's basketball courts are set to become rental housing
CBC quoted Cheng saying parents heard nothing about the Fleming Elementary lease between two public sessions in 2021 and the board's 2024 decision, and that the district needs to plan infrastructure with communities.
Vancouver School Board to hear discussion on closing city's oldest school
CityNews reported that Cheng started the Save Carleton campaign, carried a quote questioning the board's growth plans for the area, and said the campaign would bring thousands of petition signatures to the public delegation night.
A survey of all seven municipal parties on AI data centres and AI chatbot accounts in schools. It names Cheng as a COPE school board candidate and former district parent advisory council chair and sets out COPE's call for a pause on student use of generative AI.
Sources checked September 22, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
No campaign event, all-candidates forum or debate naming Cheng was found in the period from September 22 to October 17, 2026. COPE's website has no events page. The King Charles III Coronation Medal, the sociology degree and the exact start date of the chair role at the district parent advisory council come only from campaign pages and were not confirmed elsewhere. The date the Bruce field was kept as public land comes from the campaign site; no board record confirming it was opened. COPE's general platform page covers city council issues and contains no school planks, so the school board commitments come from the party's separate school board page.
Research status
What voche.me has checked
Evidence reviewed on September 22, 2026: Current campaign material; biographical claims require corroboration.
Campaign page read on September 22, 2026. 2 stated positions and 2 background facts recorded here, each checked against a quotation from that page.
Checks still to do: Verify advisory roles and compare proposals with existing Board policies.
The ballot name, office, ballot number and party label come from the City's final candidate list. Everything described as campaign material is the campaign's own account and has not been confirmed by an independent source.
03 / Background
Experience & community
More than 20 years, dates not stated
Senior paralegal
The campaign site says the work covers estates and trusts and included supporting families after the 2021 heat dome. COPE's page describes Cheng as a senior paralegal.
Vice-president, Graham Bruce Elementary parent advisory council, and lead of Save Bruce Field
CBC reported the parent council role in June 2023 while the school board was considering subdividing 0.4 hectares of the school's soccer field. The campaign site says the campaign ran until the field was kept as public land on October 1, 2025.
CityHallWatch described Cheng as the organiser behind the campaign, which held a rally at Vancouver City Hall on October 21, 2025 and asks the city, the school board and the province to plan housing and schools together.
04 / Questions & answers
Questions for the candidate
Proposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
What process should govern decisions to retain, lease or dispose of school property?
No response has been submitted.
How would you balance student learning support, facilities and staffing within the district’s available funding?
No response has been submitted.
05 / Candidate contributions
Space for campaign updates
No campaign updates yet
Announcements, event details and messages can be added here, with their source and publication date. No campaign submission has been added.
