The latest metro Atlanta school district to approve plans to have cellphone towers built on campuses is moving ahead despite some parents' opposition.
Although a potentially lucrative deal with T-Mobile to build nine such towers has already been signed with the DeKalb County School District, the outcry from parents -- fearful of the unknown effects of radiation -- is becoming louder.
Led mostly by parent groups, the opposition has held several community meetings to specifically address the addition of towers on campus. Even at School Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson's parents roundtable Tuesday at Miller Grove High School in Lithonia, people used it as an opportunity to blast the decision, prompting one parent to say that the "schools should not be in the cellphone business."
Rudy Everson, who has a kindergartner at Briarlake Elementary School in Decatur, agrees: “This is strictly for commercial use. And this increases the health risks to my son for something that has nothing to do with education.”
However, the district has pointed to studies that said the towers don't pose a health risk. Other districts, including Atlanta, Cobb and Fulton, have cell towers on some campuses.
Everson said there's talk of a lawsuit against the district to prevent the towers.
The district isn't wavering.
Asked last week about the towers at a meeting with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atkinson said the deal is done, and she is concentrating on other things.
"We respect the opinions about this," said school spokesman Walter Woods. "But at this point, we need to focus on things that haven't been decided yet. The board approved this only after extensive public comment."
In July, the DeKalb School Board voted 7-2 to erect towers at Briarlake, Flat Rock, Princeton, Narvie J. Harris, Smoke Rise and Jolly elementary schools; Martin Luther King Jr. and Lakeside high schools; and Margaret Harris Comprehensive School.
Woods said each school would get a one-time payment of $25,000, followed by a $1,400 monthly fee, which would go to its PTA. Over the contract's 30-year life, T-Mobile will pay the district around $2 million in rent. The first tower could be up by March.
“It is confusing to me why the board would have made this deal in the first place,” Everson said. “The amount of money is not enough to deal with the financial issues the board is facing."
Like DeKalb, systems around the nation say the towers generate much-needed dollars for schools and programs. Critics argue the towers are ugly, lower property values and have not been conclusively proved to be safe from health risks.
In DeKalb, one of the most vocal opposition groups is parents from Briarlake. Each of Stephanie Byrne’s three children has attended, or currently goes to Briarlake, which abuts her property. Her neighborhood has been blanketed with signs and fliers lobbying against the tower.
"It seems very illogical to put something on campus that they don't know is safe," Byrne said.
But according to the American Cancer Society, at least three agencies that classify cancer-causing exposures have not classified cellphone towers as to their cancer-causing potential.
The World Health Organization said "there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak radio frequency signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects."
In an Oct. 28 letter to the Briarlake PTA, Steven Donahue, DeKalb's executive director of plant services, cited those studies, as well as accounts from the Federal Communications Commission, the Food and Drug Administration and Health Canada, to "adequately address" health concerns.
In Cobb County, there are 30 towers on 24 schools. Each tower brings in $150,000 every five years, with 60 percent going to the school and the rest going into a fund for schools without towers.
In Fulton County, cell towers generated $777,000 during the 2010 fiscal year, but all of that goes to the school district. Atlanta Public Schools have three towers as part of an agreement with the city, but the money goes to the city.
There are no towers on Gwinnett, Forsyth and Cherokee county campuses.
Several DeKalb board members, who voted to approve the towers, refused to comment on their votes.
In a statement, board member Donna Edler, who voted against the towers, said she would "vote accordingly," if "the board moves to reconsider its decision or terminate leases in the future."
Byrne, who is leading the Briarlake campaign through the website Nobriarlaketower.org, said officials aren't paying attention.
“The majority of the community is against the tower, and we continue to be met with stagnation from the Board of Education,” she said. “It continues to amaze me that there are elected officials, who are supposed to represent the community, who have no interest in what the community says.”
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