Amid School Closures, Milwaukee Residents Demand Stronger Lead Safety Measures

MILWAUKEE, Wis (WAUK) – Community leaders and parents gathered Wednesday outside North Division High School, where students were being tested for lead, demanding immediate changes and calling for expanded prevention efforts in response to Milwaukee’s ongoing lead exposure crisis.

Milwaukee Public Schools have closed several buildings after seeing elevated lead levels, with seven schools confirmed to have hazards so far. The district is inspecting more than 100 facilities built before 1978 and aims to complete remediation of all pre-1950 schools by the next school year.

Speakers at the event called for comprehensive testing of all MPS buildings, including middle and high schools, and urged the district to update its Lead Action Plan to bypass the number on the date stone. “All MPS buildings’ water, soil and interiors need to be inspected and tested, regardless of when they were built,” said Maria Beltran, a grandparent of MPS kids and member of the Freshwater for Life Action Committee.

Advocates also demanded that MPS adopt the American Academy of Pediatrics’ stricter standard for lead in school water, less than 1.0 parts per billion, and implement better communication systems to alert families of lead risks. “We call on MPS to activate an alert system when a child in their school has tested with a blood-lead level of 3.5 or higher,” said Kat Cisar of Lead-Safe Schools MKE.

Other demands included shifting city policy toward primary prevention, increasing state funding for lead removal, and passing a lead-safety resolution before the school board. “We will hold all systems accountable for allowing lead to persist in our environments without the right safety measures,” said Civic Media’s Earl Ingram, bringing the event to an end. Ingram closed with a plea, “We call on Governor Tony Evers and the State legislature to properly fund lead removal across the state from all sources: water, soil, paint and air.”

Milwaukee Health Department officials say they have plans to expand lead testing clinics throughout the city in the coming months to reach more children and better identify potential exposure.

There are several other free lead testing options in the Milwaukee area. Those include clinics at Children’s Wisconsin Next Door Clinic, MacCanon Brown Homeless Sanctuary, and Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers, with some offering walk-ins and others requiring appointments.