Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and the Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) alerted families at Golda Meir School to a lead poisoning case on Jan. 13. Kristen Payne, whose third-grader started at Golda Meir this year was one of the parents on the receiving end of a troubling email explaining how the case was traced back to the school’s lower campus.
“Immediately, I was suspicious because there hadn't been a full assessment of the school yet,” Payne told The Daily Cardinal. “We had a parent meeting on Jan. 14 the following day with folks from MPS's facilities and maintenance department. I was able to pose some of my questions like, ‘how do we know that it's not in the water [or] in other areas in the school?’”
At both Golda Meir and Kagel Elementary School, deteriorating walls with lead paint have caused a buildup of lead dust on window sills and floors, creating an increased risk for students. At Golda Meir, samples from MHD’s January lead risk assessment found deteriorated lead-based paint and lead dust hazards on all floors of the school.
Pressure from Payne and other parents led to a more complete response from MHD, who performed a full lead-risk assessment at the school. They found hazards all over the building.
Golda Meir and Kagel aren’t the only schools affected. Two additional students have tested positive for lead poisoning at Maryland Avenue Montessori School and Trowbridge Street School of Great Lakes Studies, according to city health officials.
Payne has continued the push for lead testing in schools and transparency from MPS, starting a petition on Change.org to demand more lead-risk assessments and a detailed plan for communication with families. Lead Safe Schools MKE, a group of concerned parents, has also provided resources and information to other MPS parents.
Transparency has emerged as a main concern for Payne, as she and others have demanded answers from the school district and MPS administration.
“On a school level, the communication is great. In fact, [the schools] were getting the information at the same time we were,” Payne said. “There's not as much transparency at [the upper administration] level, and we're pushing to change that. We want to be included in that conversation and that just hasn't been happening.”
Schools built before 1978, when lead-based paint was banned, are assumed to have lead paint and may be at increased risk, according to MHS. Payne said these schools would be addressed and tested first, but water filtration and testing methods were being pushed for, regardless of building construction date.
Henry Anderson, an environmental and occupational disease and public health professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and former chief medical officer of Environmental and Occupational Medicine with Wisconsin DHS, explained children were at increased risk for lead exposure.
“When kids are very young, they crawl around on the floor, put their fingers in their mouths, and lead particles from the paint will gradually come off, especially in window wells,” Anderson said.
Even if lead paint is painted over, it could still pose a risk if it deteriorates, Anderson said. The health risks, especially if children are poisoned, are severe and long-term. Neurological and brain development problems are common, and lead poisoning can cause underperformance in schools, according to the CDC. Anderson said some studies show even more permanent effects, like tying childhood lead poisoning to higher rates of incarceration.
“There's a historical record of kids with elevated blood lead [getting] older [and having] behavioral problems that get them involved with a law and ending up in prison,” Anderson said.
While MHS and city officials have explored halting classes and closing schools to allow for lead clean-up efforts, many solutions are directed toward improved maintenance. Anderson said it could even be an issue that could be controlled.
“I think the key is having a program in place that maintains the paint and the walls and the testing, inspected on a regular basis,” Anderson said. “When they need to do repairs or renovations, that's a time to remove the lead paint.”
Funding for these efforts, which Anderson noted has been limited for schools in the past, could be provided by Gov. Tony Evers’ 2025-2027 state budget proposal, which he released Feb. 18.
Evers’ budget calls for $300 million to remove lead from a variety of community water networks, from service lines to schools and child care centers.
Evers also announced a $250,000 investment in public schools and independent charter schools to replace water fountains with filtration systems, according to a press release. Payne said demands have already been made to provide filtration to every faucet in MPS, regardless of function.
On Saturday Payne and Lead Safe Schools MKE will hold a community assembly at the Washington Park Library. The event will give concerned parents and community members an opportunity to learn about the issue and ask questions during a more accommodating time, as opposed to an MHS press conference during the workday.
While Payne and other parents have had some of their demands met, she said their work is far from over.
“We are coming to the table with important information, and until or unless we're included, we're going to be out there trying to get our voices heard,” Payne said.
