Cancer fears have some KC-area parents requesting school transfers, urging more testing
For nearly three years, Cory Brown has worried that the Liberty school her two kids attend is making people sick.
She’s written the superintendent many times, the first email back in the fall of 2022 after multiple teachers were diagnosed with breast cancer. She questioned the presence of an active 120 foot tall cell tower, located 130 feet from Warren Hills Elementary, and has spoken to staff and other parents about their concerns.
And now, after her request to transfer her two children to another school in the district was denied, Brown and her husband are planning to send their children to private school. When the two students leave Warren Hills elementary later this month for summer, they won’t be back.
“It’s awful to have to choose between a school that you love and uprooting your kids from everything they’ve known,” Brown told The Star. “(But) obviously their health comes first.”
Early last month, The Star requested all transfer forms submitted by Warren Hills’ parents and responses to those. At that time, three parents had asked for a transfer because of health concerns at the school — and all were denied, according to the information requested under the Missouri Sunshine Law.
On Wednesday, a district spokesperson said another three transfer requests based on health concerns had been submitted, making it a total of six.
“These have all been denied,” said Dallas Ackerman, the director of communications for Liberty Public Schools. “ … We are confident that Warren Hills Elementary is a safe site for students to attend school. We will continue to update the Warren Hills community as the work continues.”
These requests show that district officials have yet to ease concerns about what some fear is a potential environmental risk lurking in and around the Liberty elementary school. Those worries persist, despite a vow by officials to do additional testing, some of which was conducted in the past two months.
The concern centers around the reality that six teachers have been diagnosed with breast cancer since 2020. The fear has only increased in recent months after a beloved teacher died of cancer this past fall and another teacher was diagnosed with cancer.
At last month’s school board meeting, two people spoke — a parent and a California woman who has spent years researching radiation from cell phones — urging the district to do more to ensure the school is safe.
The same day as the meeting, Steven Anderson, the chief operations officer for Liberty Public Schools, wrote to Warren Hills staff about the additional testing the district has vowed to do. And he told them that officials were coordinating with the Clay County Public Health Center about the possibility of an updated cancer cluster inquiry at Warren Hills.
“We will continue to post all test results on the school website as they are received, along with other information as it is gathered,” Anderson wrote to the staff. “Further, once we have completed this round of work, we will assemble all updated information and results, which will then be shared directly with the Warren Hills staff.
“Thanks once again for your patience as we continue to be responsive to your questions and concerns. We are committed to ensuring that Warren Hills is a safe & healthy environment for its staff and students.”
But many still don’t feel enough has been done. Brown among them, especially after the district denied her request to transfer her children to another elementary school.
“It’s frustrating when you pay taxes to a district and they won’t allow you to attend a school where you feel safe,” Brown said. “Now we are having to look into private school options, and, you know, paying for education because we don’t want to go there, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
‘Too high to be normal’
The Browns have had long conversations as a family about Warren Hills and the health concerns they have. They weighed all options.
Their first choice was to try to transfer to another elementary school that feeds into the same middle school. They laid out their thoughts in a transfer request form, including the fact that the active cell phone tower is a “huge concern for radiation.”
“We have serious concerns about the safety of Warren Hills Elementary given the number of cancer cases …,” the Browns wrote. “Emotions are high after a teacher’s death this school year and then seeing further diagnoses.
“While we understand there are various reports stating the school is safe, we sincerely believe the cancer cases are too high to be normal and would prefer another school in the district for the safety of our children. They are too precious for us to risk staying.”
The family waited for an answer, which didn’t come for a month.
“The transfer request submitted for your students to attend the requested school, for the 2025-2026 school year, has been denied,” wrote Rebecca Bressman, director of student services for Liberty Public Schools.
Brown first wrote to Superintendent Jeremy Tucker about her concerns in November 2022. That was about three months after the school’s principal reached out to the district about a number of her staff that had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
And those staffers, the principal wrote, “were beginning to express concerns about the safety of the building,” according to an email obtained by The Star.
At that time, the district contacted the Clay County Public Health Center to initiate a study. The center’s analysis ultimately determined there was no evidence to suggest that the breast cancer rate at Warren Hills was higher than expected. At that time, it was decided that no further environmental investigation was warranted.
But parents and staff are hoping that a more comprehensive investigation is done to dig deeper into the cancer cases and take a closer look at the cell tower as well as other environmental concerns.
It wasn’t until earlier this year that some parents began to be aware of teachers’ concerns. That’s evident with the increase of emails to the district, which The Star obtained earlier this year, and requests for transfers that specifically mention the cancer cases.
“With the recent news stories I discovered over the weekend about the number of cancer cases for the teachers at Warren Hills, I do not feel comfortable sending my child to this school due the history of cancer within our family,” one parent wrote in a transfer request, “and the unknown reasons for why this is happening at the school.”
Another request that was also denied spelled out similar worries.
“Concerns for health safety, with heart issues in our family,” that parent wrote as the reason for requesting a transfer.
More testing occurred this spring, with more scheduled for this month. Early results show no asbestos in the drywall at the school. Other results on water and soil tests are expected this month.
“The District continues to work closely with local and state public health authorities, as we review concerns expressed regarding Warren Hills Elementary,” Ackerman said. “According to independent testing and analysis conducted by the Clay County Public Health Center and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, there is no evidence of medical causation of any type of cancer cluster at Warren Hills Elementary.”
Concern over the cell tower
At last month’s Liberty school board meeting, Ellie Marks took the three minutes she was allowed to give board members a crash course on how dangerous she believes it is to have a cell phone tower located near a school.
Marks lives in California, but her daughter lives in the Kansas City area and sent her The Star’s report in March on the cancer diagnoses at Warren Hills. Marks reached out to a parent in Liberty after that.
Since her husband was diagnosed in 2008 with a brain tumor that she said doctors attributed to radiation from his heavy cell phone use, Marks has studied cell phones and towers and researched the issue of radiation emissions. She has also testified before the U.S. Congress about the effects of cell phones on the body.
Founder of the California Brain Tumor Association, which focuses on preventing cancer and health effects from cell phone radiation, Marks has spoken with and emailed the Liberty superintendent. She cautioned him and the school board about having a tower so close to a school.
“No one is measuring the cumulative exposure your children and educators are getting from 30 or more hours a week,” Marks told the board. “I can say without hesitation, from my knowledge and my 17 years of experience, that the emissions from the cell tower at the school are absolutely endangering the health of staff, teachers and your children.
“It does need to be relocated.”
Experts, including Marks, say Specific Absorption Rate limits set by the Federal Communications Commission nearly 30 years ago are outdated and need to be revised. These limits from 1996 account for 30-minute exposures.
“So what’s happening is these kids and teachers are in that school at least 35 hours a week, maybe some longer, if they’re playing sports or whatever,” Marks said. “No one is is measuring them. No one. There’s no standard or guideline for that.”
School districts throughout the nation — including in California, Oregon and Maryland — are banning cell towers near schools because of the danger, she said.
The tower near Warren Hills has caused the most consternation since teachers there have been diagnosed with cancer.
Brown wrote to Tucker, the superintendent, in late January about the tower.
“While I understand the report shows everything is meeting regulations, I’m still not sure that it proves our staff and students aren’t being exposed to radiation,” Brown said. “I would be interested to know if the district has completed any studies comparing the cancer rates at our school to other LPS schools as well?”
The superintendent did not address that question. He responded to Brown about “your questions/concerns about the cell tower,” saying it is active and the tower’s lease is “set to expire in 2037.”
“Per federal requirements, the tower is inspected annually to identify any maintenance issues and to ensure that the tower is structurally safe,” Tucker wrote to Brown. “In addition, the FCC closely regulates the antenna systems for compliance.”
Tucker further said that the district received a “site compliance report” on the tower that was prepared in May 2023 and the tower was in “full compliance with all FCC Radio Frequency rules and regulations.”
“While this might not alleviate your concerns,” Tucker said in his email to Brown, “we believe that this report, along with the finding presented by (Clay) County Public Health Center (CCPHC), would indicate that there are no unsafe environmental concerns on the Warren Hills campus.”
Indeed, Brown said her concerns have not been alleviated, which is why the family is leaving.
“It’s sad,” she said, adding “we’re also hopeful and excited for a new school.”
“But yeah, this is something we never planned to do.”
This story was originally published May 9, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
