A group of parents and students from Stella Maris Academy in La Jolla demonstrated Aug. 23 in protest of the planned installation of a 5G wireless facility on a building immediately next to the school’s sports courts.
The proposal filed with the city of San Diego looks to install new Dish Network rooftop wireless equipment at 1135 Kline St., some 400 feet east of Stella Maris’ main campus at 7654 Herschel Ave. and about five feet from the sports courts.
Stella Maris Academy, the parochial school for nearby Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church, serves students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade. The school is not affiliated with the wireless project.
The Dish proposal includes three panel antennas, six remote radio units, three fiber-reinforced plastic boxes, a stucco panel equipment enclosure, an equipment cabinet and ancillary equipment and accessories.
Members of the school community turned out en masse at the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee’s Aug. 13 meeting to speak against the installation.
The DPR postponed to an unspecified date a vote on whether to support the project pending answers to questions about whether and where there is a deficit in wireless service in La Jolla that needs to be filled by this project, and a list of other possible sites that were disqualified and why.
With the issue still up in the air, students and parents stood with signs in front of the Kline Street building and next to Torrey Pines Road to draw the attention of passing motorists.
“We as a parent community just feel that the science is emerging on this [5G] technology and we need to take a deeper look at the safety [of having it so close to a school],” parent Aubrey Eblin said. “There’s got to be a safer place to put this tower in The Village of La Jolla or wherever it may be needed. But it’s not needed in this particular space and we don’t want it here. We really just want to let the community know that Stella Maris Academy does not want this.”
Parents and other members of the school community have voiced health concerns about children’s possible exposure to the higher-frequency radio waves of 5G technology — a fifth-generation wireless network intended to increase internet speeds and provide more reliable connections.
Similar fears were voiced earlier this year about a Dish Network 5G cell tower proposed for inside La Jolla Presbyterian Church’s bell tower at 7715 Draper Ave. Parents were concerned about how electromagnetic radiation may affect children attending the church preschool and playing at the La Jolla Recreation Center across the street.
That project has been canceled.
Stella Maris student Christian Aylesworth, 11, said the prospect of having a wireless facility near his school has him nervous.
“It cannot be right there,” he said, motioning to the building where it would be installed. “It could be in The Village because some people might want it … but it does not need to be right there.”
He added that the proposal “makes me feel a little upset. A couple of my friends will probably leave if it goes up and I will probably have to leave, and I like this school.”
The demonstration had the backing of school leadership, including new Principal James Brandt.
“I completely support what the parents and students are doing,” he said. “They are letting their voices be heard and that’s been one of our common themes about this whole matter — let our voices be heard.”
He said the school encourages students to say no when something doesn’t sit well with them. “And this is a good example of that,” he said. “They want to say no, they’re saying no and they have used their voices in the past verbally. And now they’re using voices with signs and letting everyone that could possibly see them know that this is not what we want.”
Brandt said “the big outcome” of the demonstration ideally would be for the plans to be canceled. In the meantime, he said, “we want them to see that this is really not a good idea, that there’s got to be other locations you can consider than here.”
“We’re not against 5G,” he added. “We live in a world of technology. It’s around us, but why does it have to be here? We’re going to continue to challenge them until our voices are heard.”
Whether 5G electromagnetic radiation can be hazardous to health, especially for children, is up for debate among experts.
Some say even the highest 5G frequency is only a fraction of the level considered dangerous.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the Federal Communications Commission’s limits on radiofrequency energy are sufficient “for protecting public health.”
Others say some scientific studies point to possible risks associated with lower-level radiation such as from cellphones, computers, power lines and microwaves, including cancer, cellular stress, genetic damage, reproductive changes and neurological disorders.
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says additional research is needed but has recommended “continued education on practical ways to reduce exposures to EMFs [electromagnetic fields].” ♦
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