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David & Cheryl Karsten Letter

RE: EMF at STMS

Dear CCUSD93 Board and Superintendent Dr. Tacy Ashby,

We would like to voice our opinion regarding the EMF concerns at Sonoran Trails Middle School. Although we have spoken to some of you recently in passing, we have not necessarily expressed our level of concern or comfort with this ongoing issue. We would like to do that now.

We currently have two children enrolled at STMS, one in 6^th grade and one in 7^th grade. We have been attending meetings and “staying in the loop” regarding the potential hazards or concerns that EMF may present ever since this first came up before the school construction was complete.

We are concerned about the health risk that EMF presents and we are especially concerned that our public school is located within a high risk area. (I wouldn’t buy a house under the power lines, so why would I want a public school under power lines?) We won’t repeat all of the data that have been passed around recently, because you have seen all that we have and probably more. Of course, most of the data that we have read is coming from the internet and from our group of concerned parents behind this push to make our schools safe.

This does bring up our personal concern that we have not really seen, heard, or read anything from CCUSD addressing the EMF issues at STMS, such as an official position on this issue. Is it the districts position that EMF levels at STMS do not pose a health risk? Is it the district’s position that the levels MAY pose a risk, but that we can’t change anything about. Is it your position that any remediation effort should be under a certain dollar amount? We are assuming that because you have commissioned some studies to be conducted and that you have actually voted to not move or change anything in regards to this issue, that the board has an official position on this topic. Once we know exactly what the CCUSD’s position is, we can either agree or disagree with you and then move forward as we see fit. But, we would like to understand exactly what that position is.

We appreciate the sometimes daily emails received from teachers and CCUSD staff relating to our child’s academic progress, to school and district happenings, and to certain safety issues such as internet safety. It is obvious that our district wants to communicate with us, and for this we are truly appreciative! We just think that EMF is also a safety topic that should be addressed by and communicated about from our school district.

Knowing what we all know right now, would any of us vote to site a school near power lines with a potential for high EMF exposure? If the answer is “NO, I wouldn’t locate a school near high EMF potential”, then we are acknowledging that there may be a risk. If we think that there may be a health risk here, why not exhaust all efforts to remediate that risk as soon as possible?

Thank you for listening to our concerns.

Sincerely,

David and Cheryl Karsten

Category: Letters