Parents in Meaford Ontario are calling for the removal of WiFi from their kids’ school. A press release issued by one of the members of the school’s Parent Council says that this is the first Canadian Public School to vote to remove WiFi. Only a third of the 210 letters sent home were returned; 62 of the 70 parents completing the survey wanted the school WiFi shut off.
The school principal has said that it is not taking that action until it is instructed to do so by the Board of Education.
In June, I wrote about concerns with the City of San Francisco intervening in mobile services regulation:
One of the reasons that I enjoy watching World Cup soccer is that is provides such a wonderful metaphor for organizational excellence. Unlike the games we see at neighbourhood parks, players at the top tier don’t converge on the moving ball. The panoramic camera angles show the choreography as team members back away and trust their mates to defend or attack, pass and dance around the field. Players know their jobs and they know what the roles are for the other members of the team.
Government bodies, at all levels, need to know their own job and trust their team mates to do the same. You can’t perform at a world class level if you can’t get each player to understand this. The consumer labelling and information requirements of the San Francisco ordinance isn’t what troubles me; it is the dysfunctional balkanization of regulatory authority that the ordinance represents.
A school council can and should express parental concerns. But its governance is not equipped to make the decisions on WiFi safety. It is about 5 levels of government away from the people who have that mandate and responsibility at the Federal level.
Do we want school parent councils making decisions on school vaccination programs?
Pingback: Tweets that mention The danger of junk science • Telecom Trends -- Topsy.com