Photo via Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee Public Schools
It’s long been known that lead is a serious public health issue in Milwaukee homes and public properties, whether from water, paint or soil. Children are at particularly high risk; according to Wisconsin Examiner, more than 1,200 children in Milwaukee test positive for blood lead levels every year. It is not exclusively a Milwaukee issue either; lead poisoning affects children in every county in Wisconsin, affecting more than two thousand children annually, according to the Douglas County website.
Lead paint was outlawed in consumer products in 1978. However, the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) website says 54 MPS buildings were built prior to 1950, with 52 built between 1950 and 1978. The average age of MPS buildings is 82, significantly higher than the national average of 49. The Journal Sentinel found that MPS had cut about 85 percent of its painting staff in the last 30 years. An August 2024 report to the Joint Committee on Finance shared that MPS in total had 265 million dollars in deferred maintenance logged for 140 facilities.
In January, an MPS student tested positive for elevated levels of lead, which was traced to Golda Meir Lower Level School. Once the Milwaukee Health Department investigated, high levels of lead in the form of chipped paint and dust were found in at least nine schools. A number of them were temporarily closed, with students relocated to different buildings.
Wisconsin Health Information Organization data from 2023 shows that 52 in 1,000 Milwaukee County children have a lead-related diagnosis, and that the number of children with lead-related diagnoses on Medicaid insurance is 3.6 times higher than children on commercial insurance. This reflects that lower-income environments with older housing are most vulnerable to lead poisoning.
Adverse Health Effects
Lead is an endocrine disruptor that can cause hormonal imbalances, leading to biological, functional and metabolic changes. Adverse health effects from lead can include learning disabilities, behavioral issues, executive function, motor control difficulties, hypertension and renal problems, among others.
A 2020 study found child lead exposure linked to increased risk of gun violence and victimization in Milwaukee, and a 2013 study found it linked to increased risk of school suspension.
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Concerned parents formed the group Lead-Safe Schools (LSS) MKE in response to advocate for safe, healthy schools in the midst of the lead crisis, inviting community activists, including Get the Lead Out Coalition, to raise awareness and take action.
Ron Jansen, a member of LSS, explains that years of deferred maintenance and the age of many of the buildings has led to the current situation. “Kids are being exposed to lead, and that has directly turned into some children being lead-poisoned.”
LSS founder Kristen Payne’s child’s school, Golda Meir, alerted parents about the positive lead test. “The risk assessment for our school was shocking,” she describes. “The levels of lead were some of the highest found at any school. The remediation lasted about two months, and our school never closed down.”
She had requested a virtual learning option for her child but was denied. “I was forced to send my kid to school, knowing full well that it wasn’t safe,” Payne remembers. “We were told by the children that some of the work was being completed while kids were in the space, and I still have yet to get answers if that was appropriate.”
School Closures
Photo via Milwaukee Public Schools
Trowbridge Street School - Milwaukee Public Schools
Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies in Milwaukee (2023)
Organizer Lisa Lucas joined LSS when her daughter’s classroom at Fernwood Montessori School was marked as a room where work was remediated improperly. “They didn’t lay down any plastic and had lead dust flying on the desks, and that was when kids were still in the building,” she recalls.
Fernwood was closed for six weeks, yet Lucas expresses frustration that she received no communication about when it would reopen. “It really exposed the inability for MPS to handle this crisis on its own,” Lucas continues. “It also exposed the inefficiency with which the MPS central office handles these matters.”
Another organizer, Kat Cisar, has twin first graders at Trowbridge School, which was the first school to shut down. She remembers feeling caught off guard by everything. “It felt like parents were always the last to know, and I think MPS is working on that, but the communication has been atrocious.”
Jansen reckons, “My son was not in one of the closed schools, but his school was built before then, so there is a high likelihood that there is lead paint in his building.”
No Safe Level
Lead pipes used in laterals and internal plumbing, also hazards, were outlawed in 1986. While lead laterals connecting MPS buildings to water service were removed by 2016, internal plumbing containing lead pipes remains a concern. Soil contaminated with lead, which had been found at Golda Meir, is part of the issue as well. “There is no safe level of lead exposure for children,” Jansen says. “The acceptable level is zero. All of these sources are an issue.”
This is complicated by the fact that although lead exposure can cause permanent harm, it may not show up in blood tests after a certain period of time. “The city’s response has been inadequate,” Jansen adds, “but the Health Department has been capitulating to the demands and releasing public records of the inspections and results. That’s good, but it also shouldn’t have had to be a demand from the beginning.”
MPS enrollment has declined in the last two decades. 84 percent of MPS students are economically disadvantaged, and 38 percent have experienced hunger over a monthly period due to lack of food at home. 5,000 MPS students experience homelessness every year.
Noting the racial justice component, as 90 percent of students at MPS are students of color, Payne adds, "When we start talking about the different response from Fernwood closing versus Brown Street Academy, that's also part of the story."
The existing MPS Lead-Based Paint Compliance Program, which mandates annual visual risk assessments for chipping pain, had not been reliably followed. MPS announced in early April that Facilities and Maintenance Services Director Sean Kane had been fired, with longtime MPS employee Mike Turza taking over.
A few weeks later, MPS put forth its Lead Action Plan to address the crisis drafted in collaboration with the Milwaukee Health Department. The plan entails remediation work being done throughout the summer and into the coming school year in 106 school buildings. It also involves expanding access to blood lead testing, hiring a third-party environmental health consultant, increased contractor personnel, and the development of a detailed surveillance protocol for inspections.
LSS holds the position that dust wipe sampling be implemented as part of the plan in addition to the routine visual inspection. The group also makes clear that they do not want lead in water or soil to be left out of the conversation, noting that not every school being remediated has been tested for lead specifically in either. They also point out that no middle schools or high schools have been listed for remediation. “It’s our demand that every school be tested,” Jansen states.
Milwaukee’s Deputy Commissioner of Environmental Health Tyler Weber sympathizes with these concerns. “Parents are right to expect lead-safe environments in every school. While the highest medical risk is in children under age 6 and in some special-needs settings where pica behaviors may occur, MHD’s position is clear: every school should be lead-safe for all students and staff.” Weber says that lead testing in water will expand across MPS through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, in partnership with Milwaukee Water Works, requiring sampling for all K-8 grade schools and childcare centers within five years of the October 2027 compliance date. Water Works plans to test
The water of 50 schools this fall while MPS will replace kitchen faucets, document filter changes at drinking stations and improve signage. The Health Department is working with MPS to determine appropriate, sustainable hazard-reduction efforts regarding lead in soil.
Lack of Resources
LSS has expressed frustrations with lack of transparency from MPS regarding routine updates about remediation and testing. “That stuff is a daily update,” Lucas says. “We deserve that. Our kids need that.” Organizers do recognize the city and MPS are under-resourced. Jansen identifies the root cause of this crisis being redlining and the intentional underfunding of Wisconsin public schools at the hands of state Republicans.
“There is not enough money in public education because Republicans want to destroy MPS specifically so that they can privatize it,” he affirms. “This is the direct result of those efforts. What we need are strong public schools, and we can’t have that when we have a state government that wants our schools to die.”
“Public health is about collective health, not personal health,” Cisar asserts. “It’s not about the supplements you take; it’s about whether you have access to clean water and schools that don’t have lead in them.”
MPS Board President Missy Zombor notes that the cost to repair, replace, and maintain schools with lead risks goes beyond typical maintenance budgets. “That burden is compounded by the fact that the state hasn't adjusted education funding for inflation since 2009 and underfunds special education reimbursements,” she elaborates. “When there's nothing left to cut, every budget move you make can create a new problem or exacerbate an existing one.”
Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius assumed her role on March 15. At a listening session held at German Immersion School on August 4, she emphasized, “There’s no excuse for the state to have a $4.2 billion budget and give our kids a goose egg.”
Federal Aid Lacking
In April, CNN reported that Milwaukee Health Commissioner Dr. Michael Totoraitis had contacted a federal CDC team for help in addressing the MPS lead crisis, only for said team to be cut in a massive layoff of federal health workers. According to Spectrum News 1 the following month, Milwaukee Health Department Spokesperson Caroline Reinwald confirmed that no CDC agents had been deployed in Milwaukee to assist with the MPS crisis, despite what Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators on Capitol Hill.
Weber comments, “I don’t know where that discrepancy came in. The CDC team has now been rehired and we’re talking with them once or twice a week to see where we go from here, but we did miss a critical moment of working with them.”
Clinics offering free lead testing can be found via the Health Department website as well as the MPS lead report. “The more lead screenings are conducted,” Zombor says, “the better the data will be to track trends in exposure around the city, which allows the Health Department to implement more effective preventative programs to protect children.”
The MPS Board’s Accountability, Finance and Personnel Committee recently approved a resolution, co-sponsored by Directors Missy Zombor and Megan O’Halloran, that directs the MPS administration to adopt key practices and procedures that keep them accountable to the Lead Action Safety Plan, which includes a public-facing dashboard that shows progress towards recommendations as well as lead surveillance documentation added to annual school audits.
Zombor contends, “Our hope is that it will not only help MPS move forward in the short term but will provide long-term and sustainable policies and procedures that can help the district better monitor and maintain facilities and give families peace of mind.”
Community Action
Local group Metcalfe Park Community Bridges (MPCB) has worked extensively with LSS in this work, as they assess health and wellness at the individual, family and community levels. Deputy Director Melody McCurtis explains, “As we’ve been doing this work, we’ve found that the majority of the housing stock in Metcalfe Park is full of lead.”
One MPCB initiative has been the distribution of lead filtration systems to folks whose homes are affected. In response to the MPS crisis, MPCB was able to purchase lead filters for the schools, which can be attached underneath sinks. “That way, the cold water is getting filtered for lead but for other things too,” McCurtis notes. “We did it to respond to the needs of the community so that they can at least have some water that they know is safe.”
In June, CBS 58 reported that MPS had been fined $5,500 by the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for state code violations during its lead remediation work, with paint chips and debris found in places previously cleared. Seven of the 13 fines came from under Kane’s leadership. According to the Daily Reporter the following month, JCP Construction, the contractor enlisted by MPS to hire certified lead remediation companies to administer remediation, had been investigated and fined as well for hiring non-certified workers from out-of-state.
On June 24, the MPS board of directors passed Superintendent Cassellius’ proposed $1.5 billion budget for the 2025-26 school year, which includes at least $16 million for lead stabilization work and 20 additional facilities workers.
A Wisconsin Public Radio article dated June 27 reports that MPS had spent about $3 million on lead remediation at that point, and that crews had removed about 410,000 tons of waste. On July 31, a progress update from MPS shared that 150 painters have been working on remediation, with nine schools cleared of lead hazards so far.
LSS urges Mayor Cavalier Johnson to publicly appeal for state leverage via lobbies or standalone bills for long-term lead remediation, pointing out via an Instagram post that the city pays for annual lead-in-water testing for charter schools but not MPS, as well as that the Milwaukee Police Department receives 44% of the city budget while the Health Department only receives 3%.
“They have a responsibility to make sure that the school district they want to keep public has resources for the kids to not get poisoned,” Lucas maintains. “Every day, we get messages from parents who have so many questions. They have no other place to turn to because these systems are failing them.”
Payne puts it, “We love our public schools, and that’s why we’re fighting. Part of parents’ decision making about what school to go to is where the school falls in this lead plan.”
Public Responsibility
“The city owns these buildings,” Jansen says. “The school district is responsible for maintenance, but if the city owns the buildings that are a threat to the health and safety of the people occupying them, the city does have a burden to bear here.”
Governor Tony Evers had originally proposed an investment of $300 million into long-term lead remediation work in Milwaukee for the 2025-27 Biennial Budget. Unfortunately, Republicans gutted the budget proposals, and Evers ultimately signed the budget without the investment.
State Representative Ryan Clancy shares insight, “Even the $300 million in Evers’ suggested budget would have been insufficient to get the lead out of our homes, schools and other public places. The Republican budget which Evers is now celebrating having signed failed to meet the moment in public health just as it did public education.”
McCurtis resents that the community is expected to not only spotlight a problem but solve it as well. “If the community is able to do a rapid response, then the schools and other entities like our city and our state should be able to do a rapid response. We keep getting delays for how this issue will be addressed.”
She continues, “Black and Brown communities aren’t seeing the response. We need to see implementation and not PR stunts, and the parents, teachers and communities need to be in the room. Kids and teachers shouldn’t be in environments where they need to worry about their health, where they don’t know they’re getting poisoned while we’re wondering why kids don’t have impulse control or can’t sit still.”
Parents or community members looking to get involved in Lead-Safe Schools MKE can get in touch with the group on Instagram or email them at leadsafeschoolsMKE@gmail.com. LSS plans to continue to hold meetings until the issue of lead in schools is fully addressed. Records of their previous press conferences, petitions and resources are listed on Linktree.
Lucas concludes, “All the resources that we need to make every Wisconsin community safe for every single child already exist. We have everything we need except political will. I would like to see state legislators, city alderpeople and county board members to make noise about this. Where is everybody?”
