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No cell towers at Dist. 203 schools

Cellphone towers will not be coming to the property around two junior high schools in Naperville Unit District 203 any time soon.

A proposal from AT&T to install towers at Kennedy and Lincoln junior highs has been withdrawn, officials said Thursday.

"Our superintendent will always bring alternative revenue sources to the board that he thinks are viable for our community, but at this point in time, the junior high proposal through AT&T is off the table," school board President Jackie Romberg said.

Working with a third party, AT&T had offered to pay the district roughly $2.2 million over a maximum of 25 years to place a 75-foot cell tower in a flagpole at Kennedy and a 100-foot tower near a Naperville water tower at Lincoln Junior High.

District officials said the money could have been put toward installing tracks and turf fields at the two schools to help meet recreation space needs. But a handful of residents this summer urged the district not to allow cellphone towers on school property because of health concerns.

Romberg and school board member Kristin Fitzgerald said the proposal was dropped because the third party AT&T was working with no longer is interested in locating towers at the two schools.

"A number of the community members expressed concerns, so I think that will be positively received," Fitzgerald said.

Superintendent Dan Bridges said the potential vendors told the district Tuesday they were not interested in proceeding with the cell towers request, and administrators then informed the school board that night.

Some board members had been interested in the cell towers as a source of extra money, but others said leasing property for such use does not fall under the district's core mission of educating students.

Cell towers lease debate begins in District 203

Dist. 203 residents don't want cell towers at schools

  Ken Banas of Lisle is among Naperville Unit District 203 residents who urged the school board not to allow cellphone towers to be built at two junior high schools. Marie Wilson/mwilson@dailyherald.com
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