Briarlake PTA Fighting Back Against Cell Tower Construction

's PTA plans to fight the construction of a cell phone tower on the school's grounds, parents at the school said Friday.

Parents at the school have launched a website, Save Our School Yard, to organize opposition to the tower, which the DeKalb County Board of Education approved in July. The board approved T-Mobile cell tower at nine locations after significant protests from , Meadowview and Brockett elementary schools got them removed from the proposal.

Briarlake Elementary's PTA voted to oppose the cell tower earlier this week. The vote allows parents to use the PTA to organize against the proposal, according to emails to parents.

Another tower is headed for , however, and an online petition has gathered about 50 signatures as of Friday afternoon. The situation there is a little more complicated, however. Principal Joe Reed has said many students, parents and staff are happy about the proposal because of the abysmal cell phone reception on school grounds. Some consider cell phone reception a safety issue in the event of an emergency.

The Atlanta chapter of a group called Get the Cell Out has also collected about 240 online signatures protesting the erection of cell towers across the school system.