Cellular Antenna at NAHS Pondered as New Revenue Source

Newly elected School Committee Chair Chris Allen says the town’s public school system is so strapped for cash she is prepared to pursue a cellular antenna contract for the cupola.

“I know I am jumping into a kettle of boiling water but we as a community need to find ways of supporting school programs other than just through property tax revenues,” Allen said, noting that schools in the Midwest routinely allow antennas on school property. “We can’t let programs we know the town needs go by the wayside because we can’t fund them. And as far as cellular antennas go, I think they are fair game because I, for one, don’t believe the pseudo-science offered by those who believe that they cause adverse health effects.”

Allen, who was elected chair of the School Committee at the committee's June 16 meeting, said she hadn’t realized the School Department was legally allowed to lease school property for cellular antenna structures until Selectman Bill Gordon mentioned the possibility on the floor of Town Meeting on June 7.

Gordon raised that potential as part of his argument in favor of modifying the town’s current cellular antenna zoning rules so that school properties were no longer acceptable locations. The proposed regulation, which failed to pass for the second year in a row, would have limited cellular antennas to specific districts.

Gordon has said that he would not be in favor of putting cellular antennas in schools, and the selectmen have not voted on the matter or expressed a board opinion either way. But Allen would still like to see the School Committee examine the idea.

“When the meal tax also failed, I knew I had to begin pursing this,” Allen said. “The town, including the selectmen, doesn’t appear to be pursuing additional revenues sources but the schools simply can’t wait.”

Following Town Meeting Allen checked in with the Board of Selectmen and that committee gave her the go-ahead, she said.

 “The current bylaw requires a 600-foot set-back from schools and homes but I now understand the set-back only applies to new structures,” Allen said. “So an existing structure like the high school cupola is not affected.”

Allen said she hasn’t researched the subject enough to know how much the town could realize from leasing space on school property for antenna structures but said any amount of new money the schools can raise would be put to good use.

“Right off, I’d like to see all the schools go wireless but we can’t even consider that when we can’t afford basic programming,” she said.

Thea Fournier, who has been fighting the location of cellular antennas near schools and residences in North Andover for more than 10 years, said antenna contracts are worth a minimum of $30,000 a year and can run as much as $75,000 annually depending on how many providers lease space. She said the value of the contracts is the reason two church congregations in North Andover, the on Massachusetts Avenue and the on Elm Street, actively marketed their steeples as cellular antenna sites.

“I think the churches with cell towers ought to be taxed as businesses which would generate some more funds for town,” Fournier suggested.

In the meantime Fournier said given the controversy cellular antennas zoning has generated in North Andover, she is disappointed Allen would even mention the high school as a possible antenna location.

“I know the science is confusing to people but we once thought smoking wasn’t bad for you either,” Fournier said. “And I appreciate the schools need the money, but I don’t think the potential threat is worth the risk.”

Fournier said she has been collecting news reports and scientific papers, and from her reading, communities which have allowed cellular antenna near schools are reporting an increased incidence of brain tumors and blood cancer in school children.

Allen said she thinks that the bigger threat to school children comes when they text or talk on their cell phones while driving.

She added the School Committee has a subcommittee researching various new revenue sources which now includes her cellular antenna plan.

“This past year we attempted with some success to sell advertising on the fences around school playing fields,” said Allen. “We’ve also talked about hiring a grant writer.”

But she said for the moment her cellular antenna idea remains just that.

“Just because the selectmen said we can do it doesn’t mean we will, but we have to be open to all types of considerations,” Allen said. “If an idea is controversial, so be it.”