Some “Choice” Words for Parents

I have been concerned about the issue of cell towers on school grounds since I first heard about it last May.  A lot has changed in my life since then as a result of this and other actions that were taken by the DeKalb County School Board. 

We fought to protect our neighborhood from the unannounced intrusion and, thankfully, we won that small part of this much larger battle.  We started speaking out to warn other schools about the cell tower decision and, hopefully, we made the dangers of RF radiation a little better known throughout the county.  We did this through an unofficial group called Get the Cell Out - Atlanta and we post blogs on our website frequently about the things we have learned during this process. 

We are even hoping to continue reaching out to others on this subject by remaining active with a group called The Center for Safer Wireless.  They have great information that can tell you what you need to know to keep your family safe while the debate over the science behind wireless technology continues in the worlds of research, science and politics.

You wouldn’t do something dangerous if you were warned ahead of time of the risks, right?  And you wouldn't insist that others do it just because you wanted to take a chance with your life, right?  The scary part about cell phones is that we were given the technology years ago without the warnings because, at the time, they were thought to be safe. 

Now we have embraced the good features and benefits into our culture, but that means our money has gone toward a lot of big businesses that have motivation to prevent us from learning about the dangers that have surfaced, not just in independent research, but even in the studies they have funded themselves.  We have to separate out the PR machine of what the cell phone industry wants us to believe and the cautions we are getting from the medical community.  Consider the source of the information before you accept anything as fact.

You can expect more of the topic of cell towers when you return from Spring Break.  We expect there will be construction activity and a lot of people who previously have not kept up with the news will soon learn about what has been decided without their input.  They will not be happy about, that's for sure.

Where do we go from here?

We took our child out of public school because we felt that a school board that is willing to risk lawsuits by devising plans to narrowly comply with the law just to avoid public input into a decision is obviously not interested in what any of us have to say about anything they do.  So, if I cannot have input and I cannot trust them to make good decisions, how can I leave my child’s education in their hands?  That would be irresponsible of me, if I have other choices. 

And, I do.  And, so do you.  But, whatever you decide to do about your child’s education, the most important thing is that you pay attention to what is going on so you will know when action on your part is necessary.  You don’t have to plan a major protest or even join the PTA.  And, given the fact that the PTA elected to keep quiet when they were informed about the cell towers, I personally would not be renewing my membership if I were still involved with the school.  They did not represent me and isn’t that the whole reason to be a member of an association? 

I know they are not obligated to think like I do.  But  I am not obligated to join them or pay them my dues, either.  And, in my opinion, they should not be allowed to accept an offer of $25,000 or more from anyone if there are strings attached that include whether or not to tell me something that, as a member, I have a right to know.  These cell towers are obviously worth a lot of money to someone, and avoiding the public input and notification tells me that it probably isn’t the community, the children or the teachers that will be the ones to benefit.

But, even if you are confident in your PTA or you think everything is fine at your child’s school, that’s no excuse to  put the blinders on and just hope things will continue.  I think many of us assume that if there was something going on at the school that we needed to know about, someone would tell us.  And, that may be true, but how do we know they will tell us soon enough for it to matter?

Ultimately, the future is up to you

We must stay vigilant in the fight to ensure our children are getting everything they deserve.  The number one thing you can do to ensure your child has a happy future, is to impress upon him or her the importance of getting a good education now.  And if you don’t think that is happening at your neighborhood school, try to figure out what the problems are and how you can help solve them.  Sometimes just calling attention to the issues will make the people who work there step up and do something about it.  No one likes their faults to be called out.  If you can do it politely and with an offer of help, you might get the issues resolved and that will help your child and every other child at that school.

If you have no option other than leaving the school, consider your child’s circumstances before you decide what is best.  There are other “free” forms of education out there, from home-schooling to an online K-12 program which is funded by the state.  There are private schools that offer scholarships and other forms of financial aid.  And, there are private school start-ups that are not as expensive as what you might think. 

I have even heard of families joining together to form a home school program in a local church or community center where one parent agrees to be the teacher so they do not all have to stay home from work.  It’s a throw back to the one-room school rooms that we have heard about from the old days.  There’s something to be said about a dedicated teacher, no stifling bureaucracy  and parents who are invested in seeing it work.  That’s how charters get their start.  If there are a lot of people in your area who feel the same way, you can look into the options to start a charter, but that will likely take time and only help you if you have more kids coming up in the system, not the child you are probably concerned about right away.

School vouchers may be a good idea after all

And, if the subject of school vouchers is ever brought up in Georgia, I will likely be one of the first to jump on board with supporting it.  A voucher would give every parent access to the best schools in their area by giving “credit” that can be used toward private schools.  Essentially the dollars we as taxpayers put into a child’s education would stay with the child, regardless of where he or she attends school.  So, the private schools would have a new market for income which means more of them could pop up to try and attract more students. 

And, it means the public schools would have to shape up.  They would essentially have to “compete” in order to keep kids there.  Options give everyone a chance to do the best thing for their child.  But, right now, the options are too limited, even with charters in the mix because regardless of what you choose, the child is still within the public system, so the dollars stay in house.  With vouchers, every child would actually be worth something to those who insist on looking at schools for their dollars and cents.  If they don’t delivery, they lose headcount and that leads to a loss in funding for them.  They would be forced to shape up, or lose money which leads to a loss in power and influence.  And if the job doesn't come with so many perks, who know, we might find some people who are in it for the right reasons - they actually care about the education of children.

See where I’m going with this?