WYANDOTTE, MI (WXYZ) — Parents in Wyandotte were sounding off once again Tuesday night about the controversial 5G cell phone tower on top of Washington Elementary School. This meeting comes nearly two weeks after the first informational meeting abruptly ended and erupted into chaos before being shut down by police.
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Tuesday's meeting at Washington Elementary was packed with concerned parents, but the 5G cell phone tower was nowhere on the agenda. Nonetheless, parents made it clear that their voices were heard during the public comment.
“I'm not asking you to remove cell towers from the city, I'm asking you to remove a cell tower from on top of my developing child's school,” concerned parent Nicole Zeld said.
In 2018, the board approved the 5G cell phone tower above Washington Elementary but the installation was delayed due to COVID.
The 5G tower was constructed by T-mobile, who will pay the district $1,000 a month according to the superintendent. She adds that the tower is also in compliance with all city, federal, and state requirements.
The FCC says there's no reason to believe it's a health hazard, but many parents claim they were not aware of this deal and now fear that the tower's radiation will be harmful to their children.
“It's in its infancy. We're scared. We're scared for our children," parent Michelle Hodgkinson said.
“We are uncomfortable with the unknown risks, throughout history, new technologies have been created and we learned the risks after the fact,” parent Nicole Zeld adds.
However, the American Cancer Society notes that there is no strong evidence exposure to cell towers has any noticeable health effects. But, they do say the towers also have not been proven absolutely safe.
Some parents want the district to back out of the deal and remove the tower before they take their children out of Washington Elementary and switch schools.
“We are going to be pulling our kids from this school if this tower gets turned on," parent Nicole Bryzelak said.
