Banning WiFi in elementary schools

Last week, I received a news release from a group calling itself the Simcoe County Safe School Committee. (WiFi in schools is Very Dangerous for Children)

I looked at the release and thought – okay, they have one expert who believes WiFi is dangerous and she’ll be speaking about her viewpoint that evening at a public library in Thornbury. I figured it would be picked up by wire services – after all it’s the middle of August and almost anything new become news. I didn’t expect it to amount to more than filler content on a slow summer news day.

Imagine my surprise when I awoke Sunday morning to discover that more than a wire story had come of the release – mass hysteria was well underway.

(It must be noted this group is likely guided by someone experienced in public relations as few have the expertise to use successfully capture the public agenda with such speed as this group.)

Tuesday, the public elementary teachers union joined the call to ban both WiFi and cell phones from schools in Ontario.

**I misread that. I had an earlier story that spoke about the Niagara proposal. Thank you Sarah for correcting. Ouch, that’s a huge misread on my part. Huge. **

Let me try that again.

Thankfully, the provincial public elementary teachers union rejected a proposal from it’s Niagara chapter to ban WiFi in schools.

What’s next?

That’s the $100 question. The province is dodging responsibility on the matter and saying the WiFi decision is best left to individual school boards.

This means local groups will be able to pressure individual school board trustees – who all face reelection on October 25th in elections which are notoriously easy for small interest groups to sway due to low voter turnout – to ban WiFi in their districts.

The result could easily be a patchwork of boards with WiFi bans in place and a de facto province wide ban.

Eventually, academics will raise and debunk most of the myths that are being propagated about WiFi in their academic journals. By the time the academy raises to the occasion, public opinion will be set and unmovable.

WiFi is the new vaccine. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, there is a large segment of the population which believes vaccines are dangerous and directly linked to autism.

I wonder how these children feel when they visit the local McDonald’s with it’s free WiFi?

Considering this campaign is directed at public schools only, I’m going assume the plastic structures in PlayLand successful shield children from the harmful radiation.