By SETH AUGENSTEIN
saugenstein@njherald.com
FREDON — The township’s elementary school is taking a stand in the regional power line issue.
The local school board voted unanimously last week to close the school on Oct. 1 — and move the children away to an undetermined location for the rest of the school year.
But the reason for the abrupt moving plans has been there, looming overhead for most of a century. The 80-foot tall power lines that soar over the school property, including a baseball field and playground site, are now being identified with health risks to kids and staff. Those lines, school officials say, could present risks like childhood leukemia due to increased readings of electromagnetic fields, or EMFs.
The EMF readings, according to recent official readings from PSE&G, are at least six times the recommended safe levels proscribed by the World Health Organization.
School board members say the drastic decision was made considering safety of the kids, first and foremost.
“I am not putting my children or any other children back in that school until the power lines are moved,” said Courtney Wisinski, the board’s vice chair. “We have to err on the side of caution.”