MARIETTA - A roomful of residents turned out at the Cobb school board's Thursday meeting in protest of a cell tower to be erected at Eastvalley Elementary School off Lower Roswell Road.

But board member the Rev. Dr. John Crooks, who represents the school, says as far as he's concerned, the cell tower is going up whether they like it or not.

In a surprise move at the board's July 23 meeting, Crooks asked the board to approve a request from T-Mobile to put up a cell tower by the school, which the board approved. Yet when the board's agenda was published earlier that week, nowhere did it mention the board would vote on the cell tower proposal. Crooks admitted to the Journal that if he hadn't placed the item on the agenda at the last minute, "it would have probably caused a circus."

Many residents who live in the Eastvalley Elementary School community want the board to revote on the tower, saying they were not given proper notice about the vote.

Chiropractor Ricky Welkis said he's obtained more than 250 signatures to date opposing construction of the tower at the school.

"You've got to understand here that around the country and all over the world in most of the European nations they're banning this at their schools, their playgrounds and their parks because of the possibility of health concerns," Welkis said, noting that the LA County School Board, the second largest school board in the country, has banned cell towers.

Welkis said the school would receive $18,000 a year for the cell tower. Of the roughly 550 children at the school, that breaks down into $30 dollars per child per year or 15 cents a day per child.

"I think our children are worth more than that. I think their health concerns are worth more. I think their well-being is worth more than 15 cents a day," Welkis said.

Besides, said Jonathan Young, who has two children who will enter the school next year, with the passage of millions in SPLOST funding, Eastvalley does not need the extra revenue the tower would bring.

Kevin Nichols, whose two children attend Eastvalley, said he knows a thing or two about the business from working at BellSouth and AT&T.

"I can tell you there's been a lot of studies done on cell towers. Now there's nothing overly conclusive, however, there's a reason why you get on the airline and they tell you to turn your cell phone off. When you have a 100 megawatt tower above a child's head, let's err on the side of caution. A couple pennies per child per day, we're worth more than that," he said.

Welkis said proper school district procedures were not followed in adopting the cell tower. The school principal never conducted a meeting to measure public support for the tower, she simply conducted an informational meeting on April 14, 2009. Welkis said when he tried to obtain minutes of that meeting the principal said there were none.

"The policy states, 'the principal shall be required to conduct a community survey or community forum to determine community support. If the community is not supportive the request shall be put on hold. We are requesting our rights be respected and our voices be heard. We are a group of over 250 in opposition to this request. Based on board policy this project must be put on hold," he said.

He went on to say, "As your constituents, we expect engagement from our elected officials and fair and impartial treatment. This issue is growing larger each day pending resolution, your unwillingness to right the wrong is damaging our school and community. We request the board to listen to the community opposition and void the July 23 vote."

Architect Ben Skaggs pointed to how the Cobb Commission recently denied a cell tower request.

"The board can learn a lot from our commissioners," Skaggs said.

Skaggs said he has a recording of Crooks pledging that a vote on the cell tower would not happen until August.

Young said both the district and T-Mobile have said the reason for the tower is to improve better reception. But Young said there are 20 cell towers within a two-mile radius of the school and two are a half-mile away.

Young also said when Crooks added the cell tower for a vote on the agenda at the last minute, it was added as a discussion item, yet there was no discussion, just a vote.

"There was no verbal presentation of the facts, no discussion of money, no mention of opposition or support, only a vote," Young said.

"In my opinion, and lots of others, any vote for this tower is basically an admission that these administrative rules can pretty much be skipped as needed and that's just the way it looks," he said.

Despite those public comments, Crooks remained firm in his position when asked if he believed there was a need for a revote.

"Not as far as I'm concerned," Crooks said.