The Board of Education never, ever has voted on the placement of a cell tower at a MCPS school site, so the only way a cell tower can be constructed is with the authorization of the Superintendent.
Neighbors to these sites often don't get any notice, and parents often get no notice or just a few days notice.
The following announcement went out to Wootton High School parents and guardians today. The meeting is in a week.
Wootton High School administrators and MCPS administrators have already been meeting about this proposal. It's probably a done deal. The site and size of the compound, and height of the tower have probably already been planned. The meeting next week will just put a check in the public meeting box.
By the way, former County Executive Doug Duncan says putting cell towers on school playgrounds and fields is a "no brainer."
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A message from THOMAS S WOOTTON HIGH SCHOOL
Greetings from Wootton…
We have been approached by AT&T and its contractors about the possibility of having a cell tower installed in our stadium. We’ve already met with them, as well as the folks from MCPS Real Estate management division.... We’d like to reach out to our community to get your thoughts on the project. In an effort to do so, we’re holding a meeting in our media center on 5/20 at 7:00pm Representatives from AT&T and Site Link Wireless Inc. will be on hand to answer any question regarding this proposal. Please don’t hesitate to contact my Business Administrator, Philip Hill 301-279-8559, if you need further information.
Parents and PTA, let's act to do whatever we can to stop this cell phone tower construction on Wootton campus !
ReplyDeleteIs MCPS in the business of educating our children or are they in the business of renting out land to third party entities at pennies on the dollar?
ReplyDeleteThey are in the business of renting out land for pennies on the dollar. Welcome to Montgomery County.
DeleteReminder: These cell tower compounds create slush funds for local principals. The money from these towers NEVER shows up in the MCPS budget. The money does not pay for teacher salaries, construction, or classroom supplies.
Parents, if the school and education board are not helping us, we have to help our children and ourselves. Do you want to keep silent and see this health risky cell phone tower constructed on the campus and community ?? If no, please reach out your local congressmen/women and senators, we need support and help from everybody. Please share any good ideas here.
ReplyDeletePrevious posts on the subject of cell towers: http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/search/label/cell%20towers
ReplyDeleteThanks Janis, are we preparing any petition and/or collecting any online parents' signature ?
DeleteI think we should ask AT&T to build the tower in Whitman instead of Wootton, see if Dr. Starr would object to that.
DeleteI am all for the idea to collect signatures and or petition against this plan. Neighbors, this will most likely decrease our home values and most important of all, the adverse health effects on our children. There's also a safety issue if the tower gets knocked down, and it will be hazardous to the students as well.
FYI - Cell towers are Hazardous Materials locations and, as such, must be registered with Montgomery County Fire Department. MCPS does NOT enforce this law and allows towers on public school playgrounds that are not registered.
DeleteA cell tower will be used by multiple vendors and requires the delivery of diesel fuel every few weeks. This puts lots of non-school personnel on public school fields every day of the week. Cell tower sites are always subject to use by vendors in the event of an emergency.
A road must be constructed to the cell tower site to allow for service vehicles and the fuel deliveries. Where will the new road go at the Wootton High School football field? Based on where the light poles are on the football field right now, it appears that any cell tower compound would have to be next to the running track. That would put service vehicles on the running track. What kind of shape is that track in now? Was it built for truck use or human runners?
I am curious if Joshua Starr has given permission to cell phone firms to build cell phone towers in the public schools his children attend (if his children attend MCPS) ??
ReplyDeleteYes, Starr's children attend MCPS. Starr lives in Bethesda in the Whitman Cluster, and, as you might guess, there are no cell towers on public school playgrounds in the Whitman Cluster.
DeleteShame on him. We should complain to MC.
DeleteI whent 2 a shool that had a cel fone tower and it didnt affect my brane. Wats rong width gettin good cel fone service, if it doz sum brane damage to kidds? Voat Dumkin.
ReplyDeleteEven you take five CT during a day, you would still survive tomorrow and you would not feel your brain get affected at all. Would you choose to do it ?
DeleteWhat evidence do you have to say Dr. Starr has given permission to AT &T for cell tower construction in Wootton HS ? Any link ?
ReplyDeleteDid you read the announcement from the school? Dr. Starr is the Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland. He runs the school system. He is in charge of what goes on at these schools. The principal and the administrator all work for him.
DeleteYou don't mean to imply that MCPS principals go off and try to lease public school land on their own, do you????
Goodness.
Starr's current list of proposed cell towers:
ReplyDeleteNeelsville Middle School
Forest Oak Middle School
Gaithersburg High School
Julius West Middle School
Wootton High School
can you provide what MCPS currently have cell phone towers ? Thanks
DeleteFrom our records, here is the list of MCPS sites with cell towers. One MCPS site is nothing but a cell tower compound - no school. That is the Woodwards Road Elementary School site.
Deletehttp://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2013/10/frontline-cell-tower-deaths.html
What happened to you theory that MCPS only picks on red zone schools for cell towers? This is a decidedly green zone school. Perhaps the cell carriers are trying to get coverage where large populations are. That sounds like the most reasonable reading. The Obama Administration has been working for 5 years to bring an extra 500 MHz of spectrum to meet our growing demand for mobile voice and data services. These services only get to people through towers. They have to be built somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNo, never said MCPS only picks on Red Zone schools. They pick on all schools. It's the Green Zone school communities that fight and stop the towers! That's why there are more towers in the Red Zone than the Green Zone.
DeleteGreen Zone keeps out towers. Red Zone doesn't.
Oh, so the towers have to be built somewhere? Then that would be your home. Give us your address and we will pass your location along as a new site!
Sorry, public schools are for the education of Maryland children. They are NOT commercial properties for the location of private businesses.
Shall I remind you that the cell tower vendors on MCPS sites have NOT been paying their property taxes????????
DeleteYes, hiding on public school playgrounds works out great for commercial enterprises, not so great for children.
Good point Janis. It is irresponsible and radiculous to use "It has to be built somewhere" as "excuse" to "justify" the proposal of building it in Wootton HS.
DeleteWhy doesn't Dr. Starr or this guy volunteer to have one built in his back yard first ?
You can't force people to accept that "extra 500 MHz of spectrum" by putting their children at health risk. It is against their will. I don't need a single shit of this extra bandwidth. If you need it, why not volunteer to have it in your land ?
DeleteWe send our children to school to get them educated, not to expose them to cell tower radiation. As parents, residents and taxpayers in Montgomery County, we provide funding to our public school system in the form of income taxes, property taxes and voluntary contributions. We do not want our public schools to be raising funds by renting campus to commercial enterprises. This is totally losing its purpose of educating the kids.
ReplyDeleteGreat point. So, see you on May 20. And please speak up in the meeting.
DeleteAn Encyclopedia Article was written about rejection of cell towers at Wootton. The article is called "Radio Frequency Towers: Public School Placement" and is published in the Encyclopedia of Environmental Management.
ReplyDeleteGo back to the letter from Michael Doran, in February, 2005, issue of the after The Patriot Press, the Wootton PTA Newsletter, which was issued after the Wooton community rejected a Cingular cell tower. It ends, “From the beginning, our interest in this proposal stemmed from its potential to generate a steady, reliable source of revenue. As discretionary funds to high school s shrink, we are often challenged to find resources for programs and activities that could benefit our students. We saw the Cingular proposal as one way to address these needs without additional fundraising. The Wootton community has always been a generous one and I trust that we will have your support if the need arises.” Did the Wootton community let Doran down?
ReplyDeleteWootton hits parents up for a lot of money. He did a massive fundraising/shakedown just last year for the artificial turf field
ReplyDeleteBut it doesn't matter if Doran was "let down." We pay taxes to fund the schools. He is collecting money for his private slush fund - also called an IAF account. This money doesn't go to teachers.