District to study cell phone tower's effect on campus

District to study cell phone tower's effect on campus
MICHELLE MITCHELL • THE DESERT SUN • MAY 26, 2010
http://www.mydesert.com

The cell tower on Vista Del Monte Elementary's campus will undergo a study amid concerns about cancer, district officials decided Tuesday.

The $15,000 independent review, unanimously approved by the Palm Springs Unified board of education , will study the electromagnetic waves and look for any irregular electric waves, or “dirty power,” beginning next week.

“I'm very scared of it,” 13-year teacher Sarah Johnson said, citing cancer cases that have popped up at the Palm Springs school. “I lost one of my best friends here.”

The 85-foot Sprint tower has been in the middle of campus since 2005.

It's about 20 feet from classroom buildings and next to the playground and lunch tables.

Teachers and staff at the school, in the Victoria Park neighborhood, have expressed concerns about the number of cancer cases that have appeared at the school since the tower was installed.

“If our employees feel unsafe, concerned or afraid of being at work, the least we can do is invest in a formal study,” said Mauricio Arellano, assistant superintendent of human resources. “We really do want answers.”

Janet Acker, a retired Vista Del Monte teacher who used to work in one of the classrooms closest to the tower, has recorded nine current and former staff members who have been diagnosed with cancer. Acker has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and has spoken to the board of education in the past.

“I said, ‘Why don't you err on the side of caution?'” she said. “They do have the responsibility to make their school safe.”

Sprint studied the tower's structural safety and an initial power reading, but the electromagnetic survey will be more thorough, Arellano said.

“There's some concern and they want to do a study that's a little more in-depth to see if there's anything to be concerned about,” Principal Joseph Scudder said.

“I think there's a perception that probably exists anywhere there's a cell tower.”

The school district receives $1,500 a month to house the Sprint cell tower and also uses it for district communication and Internet equipment, said Julie Arthur, the district's executive director of facilities planning and development.

“It's probably worth studying,” said Sharon Bernard as she picked up two of her four grandsons Monday from Vista Del Monte. “If people are thinking that (it is dangerous), then yeah, of course.”

Cell phone towers provide a low risk under ordinary conditions, although organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the International Agency for Research on Cancer have not issued findings on cell towers, according to the American Cancer Society Web site.

Cell towers are also installed at Landau Elementary in Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage Elementary and Ed Wenzlaff Elementary in Desert Hot Springs. Plans to install a tower at Cathedral City High School are moving through the approval process.