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<\/p>\nParents whose kids attend the Rock Academy in San Diego said they\u2019re angry that school leaders didn\u2019t tell them about a deal the school signed with T-Mobile to put nine hidden cell antennas on the side of the school\u2019s building.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The antennas are roughly 50 feet above the school\u2019s preschool playground with the closest antennas only about 20 feet above the playground.<\/p>\n
The private school, operated by the Rock Church \u2014 one of the largest megachurches in the U.S. \u2014 serves over 400 K-12 students and 100 preschoolers. The school and church share a campus.<\/p>\n
Rock Church leaders in April 2022 secretly signed a contract with T-Mobile giving the telecom company permission to install the antennas, according to Rock Academy parent Laura Buckley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is not just that the Rock failed to inform parents and staff before signing the contract<\/em>,\u201d Buckley, whose kids are in third, sixth and eighth grade, told The Defender<\/em>. \u201cThey were presumably never going to disclose the antennas at all<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n During installation, the school and T-Mobile hid the antennas behind tarps. \u201cNow they are hidden behind a facade that matches the building<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one would ever have known about the nine antennas had it not been for a mother who occurred to be on campus at Christmas break [in early January 2023] when the tarp was down<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The mother snapped a photo, Buckley said. \u201cThat is how people started finding out<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Tiffany Fletcher, a mother whose sixth grader attends Rock Academy, told: \u201cWord started spreading like wildfire<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n School tries to be \u2018hush hush\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Fletcher, who launched a petition against the antennas, said parents demanded a town hall meeting. The petition so far has garnered more than 1,000 signatures.<\/p>\n School leaders on March 2, 2023, held a meeting with parents, but overall \u201ctried to be hush-hush<\/em>\u201d about the matter, she said, as the Rock Church was concerned about \u201cmanaging its brand<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Parents then \u201craised a fuss<\/em>\u201d by flyering the church\u2019s congregation \u2014 an estimated 15,000 people \u2014 with information about the issue. \u201cThat got school leaders\u2019 attention<\/em>,\u201d Fletcher said.<\/p>\n School leaders in March 2023 told T-Mobile the company couldn\u2019t come on the premises.<\/p>\n Parents filed a legal action \u2014 a writ of mandate \u2014 against the City of San Diego asking the city to disallow the installation of the antennas at the school.<\/p>\n \u201cWe pursued every issue we could \u2014 permitting, fire risk, etc<\/em>.\u201d That action is currently on appeal, Fletcher said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, T-Mobile sued the Rock Church and Academy, arguing the Rock committed a breach of contract when it denied T-Mobile\u2019s access to school grounds.<\/p>\n T-Mobile brought a motion for an injunction to access the property. In April, a judge granted T-Mobile\u2019s request, ruling that Rock Church couldn\u2019t legally block T-Mobile from the property.<\/p>\n Risking kids\u2019 health and safety in exchange for money is \u2018shameful\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Rock Church and Academy\u2019s contract with T-Mobile \u2014 which Buckley said she has seen but is not publicly available \u2014 stipulates that the telecom company pay the church roughly $4,000 a month for using its school property.<\/p>\n Mei Ling Nazar, Rock Church\u2019s director of public relations and virtual communication, said the agreement was made to generate additional income for the ministry, reported Point Loma-OB Monthly<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is shameful for a Christian church to risk the health and safety of the children it has a duty to protect in exchange for $4,000 a month<\/em>,\u201d Buckley said. \u201cShameful<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n There are many independent peer-reviewed studies about serious health risks from exposure to wireless radiation, including:<\/p>\n The telecom workers\u2019 union, Communications Workers of America, also warns workers that wireless radiation can cause sterility, eye damage, central nervous system harm and other \u201cserious biological effects<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rock Church and Academy said in a statement they \u201cdid not foresee safety or structural issues that could harm our community<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n School leaders also didn\u2019t foresee that the contract they signed would leave them with so little wiggle room, Fletcher said. \u201cThe school is failing to recognize that the contract is written solely for T-Mobile\u2019s benefit<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Buckley agreed. The contract includes a series of renewal periods \u2014 but only on the side of T-Mobile. \u201cThe 31st year of the contract is the first year the Rock can get out<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The contract also gives T-Mobile permission to change or increase the number and type of antenna without the Rock\u2019s approval, Buckley said. \u201cThe antennas can become 5G at any time<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is significant<\/em>,\u201d she added, \u201cbecause according to the Rock\u2019s spokesperson on radiofrequency [RF] radiation, Derek Falconer, radiation from 5G antennas can travel around corners.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Leaders apologize, propose mitigation plan<\/strong><\/p>\n The Defender<\/em> asked the Rock Academy\u2019s top administrator, Chuck Leslie, if and why he had considered it unimportant to inform families about the contract.<\/p>\n Leslie declined to respond other than to share an official statement, released on May 20, from the Rock Church and Academy, stating, \u201cWe realized that it was a mistake to sign the contract without first having a discussion with staff and parents and we sincerely apologized, and apologize, for the stress that this has caused<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n In the statement, the Rock Church and Academy said they proposed two alternative sites to T-Mobile, but the company refused.<\/p>\n The church and school also said they tried multiple times to negotiate an end to the contract and have the antennas removed, but Fletcher said that was untrue.<\/p>\n Buckley agreed. \u201cTo the best of my knowledge<\/em>,\u201d she said, \u201cthe Rock still has never made a written settlement offer to T-Mobile for $1<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Too little, too late\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Since T-Mobile has the legal right to activate its antennas, the Rock Church and Academy promised to implement a \u201cmitigation plan<\/em>\u201d to prevent RF radiation from the antennas from impacting its campus.<\/p>\n The plan includes installing RF-shielding materials, such as metal-based window tinting on the sides of the building where the antennas are located and copper-mesh shade structures over the preschool playground.<\/p>\n School leaders also said they hired the RF radiation mitigation company, EMF & RF Solutions, to measure RF radiation levels before the antennas were activated and to track RF radiation levels in the future.<\/p>\n Fletcher questioned if the school leaders will follow through with their mitigation plan. \u201cThey\u2019re only attempting to remediate to appease the parents who are upset<\/em>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n She also pointed out that the Rock Church and Academy\u2019s plan proposed RF shielding only for its campus, even though the antennas will be directly pointing at three neighboring charter schools \u2014 High Tech High, High Tech Elementary, High Tech Middle \u2014 and a local grocery store.<\/p>\n \u201cSo as they are \u2018protecting\u2019 their own school, they\u2019re radiating hundreds of other children<\/em>,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s not very neighborly<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, their efforts are \u201ctoo little, too late<\/em>\u201d in most families\u2019 eyes, Fletcher said. \u201cTheir lack of transparency and deceitful covert actions have lost many families\u2019 trust<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n An estimated 30 to 50 families are pulling their kids from Rock Academy, according to a May 20 FOX 5<\/em> and KUSI News<\/em> report.<\/p>\n \u2018There may be something we don\u2019t know\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Buckley said the Rock Church\u2019s founding pastor, Miles McPherson, has publicly remained \u201cvirtually silent<\/em>\u201d over the last year and a half as Rock Academy parents repeatedly voiced concerns that the antennas\u2019 RF radiation might harm their kids.<\/p>\n This puzzled her because McPherson is a former NFL player known for being health-conscious.<\/p>\n When she asked about it, Rock leadership told Buckley that McPherson won\u2019t talk about it from his platform because he doesn\u2019t want to be seen as \u201canti-cell antennas<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n She said:<\/p>\n \u201cHe has about 1.5 million people that listen to him, I\u2019ve been told. Why doesn\u2019t he want to say, \u2018Hey, I messed up in allowing these antennas on our building without running it by Rock staff and families. There are many people in our Rock community who don\u2019t feel they are safe. Will you please partner with me now to help fix this mistake so we can keep our community together?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n I don\u2019t understand why he is so afraid of looking like he\u2019s against cell antennas when his community is being broken apart due to this. There may be something we don\u2019t know<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Buckley learned from the Rock leadership that they spoke to telecom lobbyists. She wonders if the lobbyists somehow \u201cgot to them<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Rock appeared to want the antennas removed<\/em>,\u201d she said, \u201cand then they just crumbled on the 5-yard line and walked away. It\u2019s unexplainable. It\u2019s either all about the money or something else we don\u2019t know about<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The Defender<\/em> reached out to Nazar and Santiago Ruiz, the Rock Church\u2019s executive pastor, to clarify whether McPherson\u2019s silence was due to concerns about being perceived as \u201canti-cell antennas<\/em>\u201d or something else.<\/p>\n The Defender<\/em> also asked if the Rock Church \u2014 or McPherson, himself \u2014 would be willing to publicly share information that would put to rest speculation about their possible industry ties.<\/p>\n Nazar and Ruiz did not respond.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n yogaesoteric <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Parents whose kids attend the Rock Academy in San Diego said they\u2019re angry that school leaders didn\u2019t tell them about a deal the school signed with T-Mobile to put nine hidden cell antennas on the side of the school\u2019s building. The antennas are roughly 50 feet above the school\u2019s preschool playground with the closest antennas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1370],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disclosures-about-5g-technology-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160248"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160259,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160248\/revisions\/160259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/s2-e1717341122551.jpg\")
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\nJune 2, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n