The Greater Victoria School District has no plans to remove wireless Internet from schools, following the last of three Wi-Fi committee meetings Monday. Trustees on the special committee went home with plenty of information to mull over, board chair Tom Ferris said.
“(Trustees) will have, by and large, read most of that material over the last month-and-a-half and I think it’s more a question of deciding what, if any, the discussion points will be and then, out of that, some recommendations might come,” Ferris said.
He felt anyone who wanted to speak to the committee was given the opportunity.
For Ferris, the formation of the committee to investigate wireless radiation concerns resulted in a positive exchange of information among both presenters and board trustees.
“People were happy they had an opportunity to present to the board. Certainly, for some of the people who presented to us, they’ve already made up their minds what they want, what they expect and so on. Whether or not you can meet their expectations is another question.”
Wi-Fi supporters, outnumbered by those against wireless Internet access in schools, criticized the board for being one of only a few in the country formed to investigate the technology.
“I seriously doubt if too may boards would take this up. I think a lot depends on your community, how interested they are or whether or not they feel they need to be informed on this subject,” Ferris said.
No timeline has been set for when the committee on Wi-Fi will report back to the board.
nnorth@saanichnews.com