School Wi Fi Report from Israel by Veronique Domshlak

School Wi Fi Report from Israel by Veronique Domshlak:

I would like to share with you the fight I led in order to turn off Wi-Fi networks in Haifa schools.

My awareness to the subject was raised by a TV report on channel 10, about WiFi in schools, at the start of October 2013. This report caused me to check the subject and understand that there is resistance to the subject in leading research centers in the world. At the start, I checked Haifa municipality policy on the subject. I found that Haifa municipality in principle resists installing WiFi in schools. Despite that, it was decided to make an experiment in several schools in the city. I found that Alon school (where my son learns) is one of the only 4 elementary schools in the city where WiFi networks have been operating in a frame of research since 2012. In addition, Alon school is one of 3 schools in Haifa , where the experiment was widened to digital books pilot study, and for this purpose, more wireless computers were entered in the schools. My feeling was that they have decided to run an experiment at the expense of our children, without informing us! I checked also Ministry of Education's position, and I found that in the last executive form (July 2013), it was written: 4.1- wired network installation should be preferred in schools. On the other hand, in the next section, 4.2 it was written that in cases where a problem exists to install wired network only, it is possible to install wireless network.

I understood that the Ministry of Education published inconclusive guidelines on purpose. On one hand, the Ministry is trying to be seen as a body that takes care of the children, and on the other hand, the Ministry leaves holes in its guidelines, in order to put quickly the WiFi in maximum classrooms and to set facts before the high court decision (that is expected during the next days). !

At this stage, I approached Alon school's principal in order to find out about the subject. I tried to understand if she was aware of the risks. I emphasized, that I am not against progress, and that distributing wired computers would enable progress without the unnecessary irradiation of the children and school team. I explained also the differences between using a router in your private house vs. in the classrooms:

1) Inside the house each person can decide whether to use WiFi or not. The radiation is not imposed.

2) In the house the option of wireless can be turned on in the router, and in all the computers, only according to the need and not during all the time.

3) In the house there are usually only 2-3 computers and not 30-40 that look for the router (and more 30-40 cell phones and two especially strong routers).

4) There is compulsory education law, this law forces the children to be in schools 5-8 hours a day, they have nowhere to run away. Again, forcing radiation on them. 

(it would be noted that the feeling was, that in all her first responses, the school principal was guided by Haifa municipality and by the Ministry of Education). 

In her first response the principal referred me to the new executive form of the Ministry of Education, that was published after the last high court decision. She referred also to radiation measurements and periodical safety examinations, that are done by the municipality, and she tried to calm me down that she and the teaching team did not want to endanger themselves and that the computers carts are loaded only after the school day. I decided to check with my son and other children in his classroom, what happens in practice in the classrooms. I understood that there were two carts in each school (in each floor a cart for the classrooms on the same floor). One was in their classroom, serving 5th grade1, 6th grade1, 2 classrooms. The second was in the warehouse and serves 4th grade1, 2, and 5th grade2. It turned out that on their floor there was no warehouse, and so they put the cart inside my son's classroom and there the computers were loaded each time when the cart was returned to them (including when the children were in the class). 

When I continued to approach the school principal:

- I raised the problem of ignoring the loading procedure

- I tried to understand why they did not use wired internet like the Ministry of Education guided (why was it not possible?)

- I passed on information showing harm from non ionizing radiation to the reproductive system (especially sperm quality), DNA breaks, BBB penetration, EHS development, the classification of this radiation as 2B carcinogen, and more. All of these dangers are much higher for children whose brains are not developed yet, and in adolescents. 

- I passed on alternatives, including examples of distribution of wired network and cost assessments.

In addition to this:

I approached the parents of my son's classrooms, I informed them on the subject and suggested that if the wireless networks were not stopped in school, we would sign on non consent form against the participation of our children in the classrooms and we would pass it on to the school principal.

I wrote a very strong letter to several people responsible for the issue in Haifa municipality. Among the rest I was asking to check WiFi distribution in all Haifa schools thoroughly, and to pass me on a list of all schools where there are wireless networks. 

I wrote to the responsible in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Noam Koriat (following his request though the school principal)- manager of knowledge management development and organization from the Ministry of Education. His response does not justify its description here. I found a parent representative from Herzel school and we decided to cooperate together. I established a facebook group on the subject of WiFi in Haifa schools. I was active in other groups on facebook. I tried to understand from the parents what I could not receive from the municipality (whose responses had no grasp in reality and each response contradicted the previous one)- in which schools in Haifa WiFi is used (so far I still don't have the full picture).

I asked help from experts (Ram Dishon, Amir Borenstein).

I got help from fights of parents in elementary schools in Tel Aviv.

I worked with the Haifa Green Party, who raised the subject of WiFi in Haifa schools to the city council already 1.5 years ago, and they brought to the situation where the general policy of Haifa municipality would be to avoid using internet wireless networks in its area. 

There was a stage when I received phone calls from my son's teacher and the school principal in attempt to calm me down, that there is no danger in using WiFi and anyway the use is everywhere. A change happened when the school principal informed Haifa municipality and the responsible on the digital books pilot in the Ministry of Education that she stopped the pilot and using computers in classrooms at all, until radiation measurements would be done in her school. Afterwards the school principal sent me a document on the communication system from Haifa municipality, that deals with the equipment standards. This document and also the future radiation measurement's meaning was not clear, because:

1) there are no definitions of what is being checked. The examinations are complicated and in practice are not done as they should be.

2) the results are meaningless because the threshold standard in Israel is 400 times higher than in Europe .

They will not convince us and will not make us want wireless internet networks in the schools where our children learn. Afterwards the school principal sent me "Appendix 2, standards book for program infrastructures" and drew my attention to the sentence "installing wired and wireless networks in classrooms and public areas in schools" This is an older version of the executive form, from 2010.

At this stage I went again to the parents and to the central parents committee chairman of the school. I updated in everything that had happened and the fact that Wi-Fi use was stopped temporarily until the radiation measurements. 

I explained why it was not right to rely on the results from this radiation measurement and that I was not ready to continue and endanger my son for one more day. I called everyone to sign on non consent form and to join the fight. I asked to understand the position of the central committee (until now their voice is not heard). I suggested a meeting together with parents from two other schools with experts. I was happy that this letter was passed on by the central committee chairman to the school principal. Then the school principal informed me that a discussion was supposed to start soon in the municipality about using wireless networks in all four schools in the project and that meanwhile the pilot was stopped. A week afterwards (25/11 – a one and a half month after starting the fight), I was told by the school principal that it was decided in Haifa municipality to stop using wireless networks in classrooms immediately in the four schools where there is WiFi experiment. 

The digital books pilot will continue by downloading the digital books to all wireless computers for one time, (with periodical updates). The work near computers will be without using internet. Filing works will be done by DOK.

This solution is temporary until wired networks will be installed gradually in all classrooms in all schools. Regarding downloading the wireless computers, the school principal will make sure that it would be done only after 17:00, before locking the classrooms and until the father of the house comes early in the morning. In any case the download will not be done while the pupils are inside the classrooms.

The principal thanked me from the bottom of her heart for drawing her attention to the subject, because she was not aware of the danger, and I thanked her for her openness to the subject, for her cooperation, for implementing the precautionary principle and for putting the pupils health at the top of the priorities.

I hope this information will help parents and school principals who are trying to make a change. 

Veronique Domshlak