WYANDOTTE (WWJ) - Parents and school district officials clashed during a meeting held Thursday night over a cellphone tower and generator that suddenly appeared in an unlikely location — right on top on an elementary school.
Parents of students at Washington Elementary School at 1440 Superior Blvd. voiced safety concerns over the proximity of the T-Mobile tower at an informational meeting held at the school on March 2.
The meeting -- meant to ease the parents and answer questions over radiation exposure worries and any other inquires about health risks to children -- quickly dissolved after parents were told they were not allowed to speak.
Parents continued to protest before Superintendent Catherine Cost abruptly ended the meeting and walked out of the room.
Police were called in by school officials to make the parents and media covering the event leave the property, but by the time officers arrived, most of the adults had left.
Their fight against the tower, however, is far from over.
One attendee and local resident wrote to WWJ and said they believed the equipment, which also includes a generator, was installed school property last weekend without the parents knowing.
The district apparently entered an agreement with the cellphone company back in 2018, Ken Laub, finance director for the Wyandotte Public Schools, told WXYZ. The lease allowed T-Mobile to build on the school in exchange for $1,000 a month.
Parents main concern was the development of certain cancers in their children years down the road due to exposure to the tower. Officials maintained during the meeting that the tower complies with Federal Communications Commission standards and does not pose any risks.
"The cell tower is not near the school, the cell tower is on the school!" the attendee wrote in an email. "Besides being on the school, there is also a massive generator that has been installed in the kids playground! It is fenced off, but not covered so any kid can climb the fence!! There are danger signs along with flammable signs all over the generator!"
Parents requested to see the terms in the lease agreement between the district officials and T-Mobile.
Many others have threatened to sue to keep the tower from being completed.