ITS: WIRELESS NETWORKS IN SD41

Burnaby schools strive to provide relevant, engaging and technology-rich educational environments that prepare students to learn, work and interact in our rapidly changing world. As wireless access to technology becomes widely available, it is important that schools guide young people in the appropriate use of technology, and the information and connections that it enables.

District Technology Plan

The Burnaby Board of Education’s comprehensive Strategic Technology Plan is the result of extensive consultation that included parents and all educational partners. Guided by this plan and as budgets allow, the district is improving technology to support teaching and learning. The plan includes the use of wireless technology as a significant part of an accessible, personalized learning environment.

Wireless Technology Enhances Learning and Teaching

Wireless technology enhances learning and teaching by:

Providing access to information and collaboration through web-based, secured learning environments.
Providing assistive technologies to enable students with special needs to work with their classmates in their classrooms.
Connecting with classrooms in other communities, provinces, countries, and continents.
Utilizing digital texts, using online resource banks and downloading streamed content and productions to support instruction.
Extending learning with small group work.
In the long term, enabling possible future wireless connectivity so students and staff could bring their own devices to school to further their learning in a filtered, secured environment.

Report to the Board on Wireless Networks in SD 41

In November 2010, the District Technology Advisory Committee (DTAC) received a presentation from a district parent and a delegation from Citizens for Safe Technology (CST) regarding the safety of wireless networks. DTAC received the presentation with interest and the committee reviewed in detail the literature and concerns presented by the delegation. In addition the committee studied:

research and academic information regarding radiofrequency and health,
information about WiFi provided by provincial governments,
world, Canadian and provincial health authorities’ recommendations regarding WiFi, and
the District Technology Strategic Plan.

In May 2011, the DTAC responded to the delegation with Report to the Board: Wireless Networks in SD41 .

The report details the investigation and findings of the committee. Highlights include:

The DTAC reviewed all 68 articles submitted by CST and found that none showed any direct evidence that WiFi networks were a safety risk to staff or students. Some of the articles contained some evidence of co-relation between some health risks associated with extreme use of cell phone radio frequencies. None of the articles demonstrated any causation of detrimental health risks associated with wireless network technology.
“Based on scientific evidence, Health Canada has determined that exposure to low-level radiofrequency energy, such as that from Wi-Fi systems, is not dangerous to the public.” (Health Canada media release; August 19, 2010 #2010-142)
The World Health Organization, in a fact sheet released in 2006, concluded that, “Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.” (World Health Organization, Fact Sheet No 304, May 2006).
The overwhelming body of scientific evidence from leading International, Canadian and B.C. public health officials has consistently found no evidence that WiFi is unsafe at exposure levels below current Canadian guidelines. (Excerpted from a Ministry of Education E-Board post November 21, 2010)

The report concludes the following:

“As with any equipment, service, product or supplies, the Burnaby School District follows all applicable British Columbia and Canadian health and safety standards. With respect to WiFi technology, we are governed by and operate well below the safety guidelines set by Health Canada. Therefore unless specific causation from WiFi can be proved to be harmful to human health, the district will continue with the use of wireless technology as outlined in the district’s Strategic Technology Plan.”

As part of our on-going commitment to student safety, the DTAC will continue to monitor and review new information and research related to the safety of wireless networks at its regular meetings.