Story originally printed in the Coulee News or online at www.couleenews.com
Published - Monday, September 13, 2004
Bangor School District spends $15,000 on electrical filters
In hopes of improving the health of its students and faculty, the Bangor School District recently installed filters to reduce electrical pollution in its schools.
Bangor School District Superintendent John Wyatt said the district spent about $15,000 to purchase close to 500 electrical filters which have been placed in outlets throughout the schools.
An excess of electrical pollution, also known as radio wave sickness, is often blamed as culprit of "flu-like" symptoms, as well as depression, numbness, attention-deficit-disorder and anxiety.
Area school districts including Melrose-Mindoro, Cochrane-Fountain City, Blair-Taylor, Brighton and Marshfield have already installed electrical filters in its schools.
"I think we're joining with a growing number of schools in the area that's convinced there's a possible relationship with the symptoms people feel and these electrical impulses that come off of these computers and other sources of electricity," Wyatt said.
Melrose-Mindoro installed its filters two years ago. Wyatt said changes that the district has seen since installing the filters made a big impact on the school board's 5-2 decision to install the filters in Bangor.
Many teachers reported symptoms they had experienced before the filters were installed had disappeared.
Furthermore, 37 children were on inhalers before installation of the filters. Shortly after the installation, only five children were using inhalers.
"There's enough evidence in other schools to feel this is something we should do," Wyatt said.
The two school board members who voted against the filters said it was a lack of evidence that there's a correlation between electrical pollution and illnesses that caused them to vote how they did.
"People are buying into it and there's not much to go on," board member Tom Arentz explained.
Arentz said another reason he voted against it is because the school board would normally get a second estimate in a situation like this one. However, the manufacturer of the filters, Stetzer Electric in Blair, is the only business in the area that manufactures these filters.
Board member Curt Pierce said he didn't feel comfortable supporting the proposition.
"I didn't find any real science to back it up," Pierce said.
Wyatt said the district will be able to determine the filters' effectiveness in about six months after reviewing attendance records.
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