Wednesday, January 28, 2015

E-mails Reveal Direct Communication Between Cell Tower Vendor and Board of Education Members

Daly Elementary cell tower in Germantown, MD
The Maryland Coalition to Halt Cell Towers at Schools (MCHCS) is releasing e-mails and correspondence that show direct communication between the Prince George's County Board of Education cell tower vendor, Milestone Communications, and individual Prince George's County Board of Education members.
This information came to the MCHCS through e-mails released by the Prince George's Board of Education in response to a Maryland Public Information Act request.
The MCHCS notes that individual actions of Board of Education members acting on behalf of the board are in direct violation of Maryland law and Prince George's County Board of Education Policy.
The e-mails that MCHCS is releasing detail a Milestone Communications representative attempting to get Board of Education member Sonya Williams to state that she has no objections to cell towers for the Old Croom Vocational High School and Burroughs Middle School sites.

In the first e-mail of this packet, the Milestone Communications representative states that they had previously contacted Board of Education Member Burroughs, Board of Education Member Jacobs and Board of Education Member Higgins to determine if those Board members had any objections to cell tower projects in their districts.
 
The January 31, 2014, e-mail from Maureen Smith of Milestone Communications to Board member Williams states:

As part of the implementation of the existing lease process, Milestone must inform the School Board Member for the Districts where subject properties are located and determine that the Board Member does not object to the proposal.  Then, we move forward to request a Letter of Authorization to Proceed...from Dr. Maxwell.  In the body of the request letter we confirm that the School Board Member has been notified and does not object to the proposal(s).

This behind closed doors communication with individual Board members has, heretofore, been unknown to the public and is not part of any publicly known cell tower approval process.

Maryland Coalition to Halt Cell Towers at Schools

 

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