TAMPA -- The Hillsborough School Board will not comply with the
County Commission's request to halt plans to raise any more cell towers
at schools.

Commission Chairman Ken Hagan, in a letter to the district on
Tuesday, requested "the School Board immediately stay the authorization
or placement of cell towers on school property until such time as the
issue of community involvement in the decision making process can be
addressed."

Parents, particularly ones at Pride Elementary in New Tampa, didn't
know their school had a cell tower until it was already built. A
community meeting wasn't held until October -- nearly two months after
the tower had been installed.

Despite anecdotes like those and the commission's objections, School
Board chairwoman Carol Kurdell said the district will continue to build
them.

"We’ve complied and will continue to comply with all of the
requirements in the County Land Development Code," she said in an
interview with the St. Petersburg Times. "We always have."

See also the School Board's response.

Rodney Thrash, Times staff writer