There are 11 macro cell towers on MCPS campuses. 81% of them are at schools where at least one-third of students receive free and reduced meals (FARMs).

 

Text of public comment by Lisa Cline on Montgomery County Public Schools Operating Budget April 2021.

 Hello. My name is Lisa Cline. I live in Gaithersburg, am an MCPS parent and child safety advocate. Thank you all for your incredible work keeping the County safe this past year. I for one am thankful for the hard decisions you’ve had to make. On that note, my testimony has to do with the safety of MCPS students and allocation of funds in the 2022 fiscal budget to test for an air quality issue that has gone largely ignored for 20 years. That is: radio frequency emissions. There are 11 macro cell towers on MCPS campuses. 81% of them are at schools where at least one-third of students receive free and reduced meals (FARMs). To put that in perspective, at a high school where 5% of students are in financial need, a cell tower was successful fought. So our poorer communities are disproportionately subject to the possible health risks of RF emissions. Does this bother anyone else? In 2004, it bothered the Montgomery County Planning Board. In 2004, a mandatory referral letter from the then-Planning Board Chair pertaining to a tower application (200411-04) at Northwood HS indicated approval of the tower with the condition that “a letter certifying [it] operates within FCC standards is provided on an annual basis to MCPS.” Last August, I began working with MCPS Real Estate lead Boyd Lawrence to obtain those annual certifications. Mr. Lawrence also serves as a member of the Montgomery County Tower Committee. He was unsuccessful getting any RF reports and directed me to file an MPIA request, which I did. The request yielded just three reports over a 20-year span. Not one tested aggregate emissions, one mis-named Wheaton as “Wharton,” one only tested the perimeter of the school, and none measured inside the schools…where it matters most. RF radiation is a possible carcinogen. So is radon and lead. So let’s talk about radon and lead. MCPS has been testing for radon since the late ‘80s on a five- year cycle; every two years at schools with a past problem. Regarding lead…all schools must be tested every three years for compliance with EPA recommended levels of 20 ppb. But that wasn’t good enough for many of you…who then passed legislation lowering the action level to 5 ppb. Let me underscore that there is NO RF testing in our schools. I hope you see the double standard here, appreciate the importance of this request and will allocate funding for annual RF testing at all of our cell tower-hosting schools.