District 21 OKs wireless tower at Holmes Middle School

The Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 board of education gave staffers the green light Thursday to move to the next step with a proposal to install a wireless tower at Holmes Middle School.

In a 4-1 vote, the board voted to approve a contract with Horvath Communications. However, the project still needs to be approved by the village after a public hearing. The tower would initially handle calls from T-Mobile phones and bring in $15,600 in annual revenue for the school district, increasing by 2 percent each year. If other users were added, it could produce more revenue.

Some board members expressed concern that parents and community members might be opposed to the tower since it is on school property. Some wanted to hear what the public thought before voting, but staff members informed them they had to approve the contract first in order to move on to the next step in the process.

"I don't see how $15,000 is worth it," said board member Pam Becker Dean, who was concerned about how community members would feel about having the tower near students. The land is south of the school building along Wolf Road and is not used for athletic field space for park or school activity.

Some members said they preferred a "unipole" type of tower, where the radios are located inside the tower, in order to make it more aesthetically pleasing than a regular wireless tower. The downside of the unipole tower is that it may not hold as many radios as the standard tower.

Board member Arlen Gould said he supports the project, but only if the board would be able to choose to opt out if a significant amount of people are concerned with it. Jason Klein, chief information officer for the district, said the attorneys indicated it was possible to opt out later.

"I think to automatically assume people are going to be all up in arms, that has not been the case," said Staci Allan, who voted in favor of the contract. She noted that there are several wireless towers in the community.

Dean responded that they are not located at a school near children.

Staff members said that a couple of Northwest Suburban High School District 214 schools have towers.

"I would like to see $15,000 grow," Klein said.