The Agenda for next week's LAUSD School Board meeting was posted
this afternoon. We now have confirmation that the Board of
Education will be taking action on Phase I of a three-phase program
that will, if all three Phases are complete, install WiFi and
tablets or laptops in most L.A. Unified District school rooms. The
distribution will very probably be at a 1:1 ratio -- meaning every
single student will have a device and virtually
EVERY CLASSROOM WILL BE SATURATED WITH WIFI.
This means that 700,000 teachers and over
45,000 teachers and will be subjected to constant WiFi in school
rooms for 6 hours a day.
If we can bring a stop to this, this will
set a very important precedent such as those in school systems
in Europe and parts of Canada. If this gets voted down, we can proudly say that the
second largest school system in the United States has made
the health of children a priority, while meeting educational
goals by using WIRED technology.
The Bond Oversight Committee approved the
expenditure of $50 million for phase I two weeks ago in a 9-6
vote, but the Board has not taken action yet. IT'S NOT TOO LATE!
It is CRITICAL that we stop this before it
happens or, if we can't stop it, it is CRITICAL that we go on
record with what we know.
Phase I involves $50 million in
expenditures. By the time Phase III is completed, the program
could cost as much as $900 million.
It is important that we make the
case that we are not against technology in education and
that we support all the educational goals of bringing L.A.
students quality education and access -- but with WIRED
methods. WE MUST ADVISE THE BOARD THAT FIBER OPTICS OR
OTHER WIRED METHODS CAN DELIVER THE EDUCATIONAL BENEFITS
WHILE MITIGATING AGAINST HEALTH EFFECTS.
The chairman of the Bond Oversight
Committee created an artificial divide
between those of us who know that wireless technology has not
been proven to be safe and those who want to further our kids'
education. Nothing could be further from the truth. We cannot
let this become a polarized issue.
PLEASE take time from your very busy
schedules to participate in a very meaningful way.
1. Write emails to the school board
members BEFORE noon on Monday 2/11/2013.
2. Write letters to the school board BEFORE noon on Monday 2/11/2013.
3. Contact your colleagues, fellow
activists, physicians, engineers, parents of school children,
politicians, list members, etc. to do the same.
OUR GOAL IS 100 LETTERS AND
EMAILS that speak to the health effects of WiFi, the lack of
evidence that it is safe, the irrelevance of FCC guidelines
that deal only with thermal effects, and the relatively
simple alternative: Wired Technology.
There are 51 Agenda Items on the day this
will be heard. This issue is Agenda Item 12. We are organizing
people to go to the meeting to cede their time for a few key
speakers. It may be necessary to reserve our place in line by
camping on the street overnight. One of us will read the names
of people and/or organizations at the podium TO GO ON RECORD.
In order for this to be done,
PLEASE SEND COPIES OF EMAILS OR LETTERS to me once you have
sent them so that your names can be read that day.
The meeting will be televised so your
contributions will be memorialized.
Contact info:
Los Angeles Unified School District Board
Members and their staff:
You can see the Board Members page here:
If you prefer to write, please address your
letters to each Board Member and send to:
If you or your associates choose to write,
please scan the letters and email to me as pdf files so that
they can be brought to the podium to be READ INTO THE RECORD.
I know how busy everyone has been,
especially with the recent FCC efforts, but please do take the
time to write BEFORE NOON ON MONDAY (PST).
Please be sure to send us your names and, if you
would like, your emails and letters so that your names can
be READ INTO THE RECORD!