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The principal of Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda has called off a PTSA vote on a controversial proposal to build a cell tower on the school's property. The vote had been slated for Tuesday evening.

A group of more than 200 parents and neighbors of the school came out in opposition to the proposal, worrying that there remain unknowns when it comes to the health effects of cell towers and arguing that the towers amount to a commercialization of public land.

Whitman principal Alan Goodwin said the issue had become a divisive one.

"The possible placement of a cell tower is not worth fracturing the community with such discord, and I have concluded it is not in Whitman's best interest to move forward with placing the cell tower on our campus," Goodwin announced in a listserv posting to the Whitman community Sunday.

Opponents of the tower have hailed Goodwin's decision to call off the vote.

"I'm pleased that Dr. Goodwin has stopped the process, which seems to indicate that he acknowledges that placing a cell phone tower at the public high school is not aligned with the school's goals, which is to educate students," said Christine Ladd, a Whitman parent who opposed the project.

The opponents of the Whitman tower — and others in the county — say that more research is needed to determine whether there are detrimental health effects to people who live, work or go to school near a cell phone tower.

Ladd and other opponents also believe the Whitman tower would have clashed with the surrounding residential neighborhood, and would not have been the appropriate use of public land.

T-Mobile spokeswoman Jane Builder wrote in a Tuesday e-mail to The Gazette that the proposal had received numerous supporters in the Whitman area. Builder wrote that the company respected Goodwin's decision, though it was "disappointed that Whitman PTSA members will not have the opportunity to vote on the proposal."

It was unclear whether the company would pursue the tower on Whitman's property or whether the Goodwin's decision to call of the PTSA vote would forego that.

T-Mobile proposed the idea to the Whitman community in November and a community meeting was held March 8.

Neither the PTSA nor Goodwin had taken a stance on the tower, Goodwin told The Gazette.

Cell towers on MCPS property are expected to bring in $694,000 in fiscal 2010, according to Mary Pat Wilson, a real estate management specialist in the system's department of facilities management. Towers exist on 12 school sites and one future school site on Woodward Road in Gaithersburg, Wilson said. Typically, each provider who locates equipment on a school site brings in about $24,000 yearly, which is divided evenly among MCPS, the school on which the tower is located and its cluster schools. That number, however, can vary. It's also priced per provider, meaning that each provider using the tower would pay the $24,000.

Twelve county schools have cell phone towers, including Col. Zadok A. Magruder High School, Montgomery Blair High School, Albert Einstein High School, Watkins Mill High School, and Tilden Middle School, Wilson said. Several schools have been approached by providers to build towers, only to have the proposal nixed after confronting community opposition.

"Sometimes it goes over without a murmur, sometimes it becomes World War Three and sometimes it's somewhere in the middle," said Michael Doran, principal of Thomas S. Wootton High School. Wootton's PTSA voted down a proposal several years ago when parents at a cluster school became concerned, Doran said.

Some say the revenue generated is beneficial. Officials at Tilden Middle School say they have used the funds to buy digital video cameras and extra Promethean boards.

"One hundred percent of the fund goes right back to the students," said Tilden principal Jennifer Baker.

Cell phone towers on MCPS property must be reviewed by the county Transmission Facilities Coordinating Group. The proposals are then heard by a county hearing examiner before the Board of Appeals made a final ruling. Superintendent Jerry D. Weast would also need to sign off.