Letter to Petaluma Board of Education by a Math Teacher to Halt Wi-Fi in School

June 24, 2016

Dear Superintendent and members of the Petaluma Board of Education,

I am writing you today requesting that you put forth a plan to hardwire the schools that our children attend as students. 

I am NOT anti-technology. I am a math teacher and a believer in science. 

I don’t, however, believe in long-term exposure to high levels of WiFi for my kindergartner.

We take good care of our children. WE WANT YOU TO TAKE CARE OF THEM TOO. Maybe you don’t think about exposure because you don’t have small children. Maybe you don’t have children at all. You may not see any level as being unsafe. I don’t know because, so far, you won’t discuss it.

It is now scientifically PROVEN that RF/EMF use increases certain types of tumors. The NTP, a branch of the NIH, recently released this $25 million study commissioned by the EPA (Please see “Report of Partial findings from the National Toxicology Program Carcinogenesis Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation in Hsd: Sprague Dawley® SD rats (Whole Body Exposure”).

Respectfully, I would remind you that there are many things throughout history that people were assured were safe (asbestos, cigarettes, solvents, thalidomide, DDT, etc). In these cases, many people were on the wrong side of history and that proved disastrous.

You can be pro-technology AND safety-minded.

Again, your openness says a lot about your concerns. If you continue to avoid this conversation, it will certainly drive more people out of the district while organizing against you (this will include my family). I don’t believe there has been a lot of good faith thus far, but I really am hopeful that this will change. I am very concerned about the technology leadership in this area. While I‘ve seen some great work in the development of curriculum, I also detect a real defensive, hard-headedness when discussing safety. I would suggest, in my own experience as a teacher, that students’ safety is our first priority, while curriculum and test scores a very distant second.

Thank you for your time,

Jason Greenwald