Dangerous levels of lead dust found in 2 Milwaukee schools

There are dangerous levels of lead dust in two Milwaukee public schools, the city’s Health Department announced Thursday.

At the Golda Meir School and Kagel Elementary School, tests found concentrations of lead dust on windowsills over 14 times the federal safety threshold. Concentrations on floors were more than six times the threshold.

Golda Meir is a magnet school just north of downtown Milwaukee that educates children in third through 12th grade. Kagel, on the city’s south side, has students in kindergarten through 8th grade.

Mike Totoraitis, Milwaukee’s top public health official, said his department did the tests after two students, one at each of the schools, tested positive for lead poisoning during the last three months.

“Our health department has a statutory obligation to follow children that test high for lead poisoning,” he told reporters Thursday.

Lead dust is often formed as lead paint chips and wears down, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MPS interim Superintendent Eduardo Galvan said the district already annually “reviews” its schools for lead paint, and that it will work with the Health Department to make “revisions” to that process.

“Do we need to buy more wipes? I know that sounds simplistic, but if that’s a step we need to take,” he said. “Whether we need to think differently about painting.”

A letter from the Health Department said MPS must “significantly improve” detection and control of “lead hazards.” According to the letter, that includes prioritizing inspections in schools built before 1978 and attended by young children, as well as cleaning horizontal surfaces more often.

MPS has made the rooms that had dangerous levels of lead dust safe for occupancy, Totoraitis and Galvan said.

Health department advises regular lead screening tests for kids

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he had visited three MPS schools Thursday morning while dropping his kids off at school. He called the findings disturbing.

“I’m sure it’s a feeling that many parents across Milwaukee probably will feel as well,” he said. “But the fact that the superintendent is standing here with us today shows that MPS takes this situation very, very seriously.”

The Milwaukee Health Department recommends all children under 6 years old get annual lead screening tests.

Lead levels far beyond federal safety thresholds

In October, the federal Environmental Protection Agency lowered its safety threshold for lead dust concentration to 10 micrograms per square foot for floors and 100 micrograms per square foot for windowsills.

At the Golda Meir School, tests found the level was 1417.9 micrograms per square foot on windowsills and 67.5 on the floor.

At Kagel Elementary School, tests found 1600 micrograms per square foot on windowsills and 340 on storage room floors, according to the letter from the Health Department to MPS.

According to the letter, a visual inspection at the Milwaukee Chinese Immersion School found no lead hazards, and a “preliminary inspection” at the Maryland Avenue Montessori School that found “strong potential presence of deteriorated lead paint.”

Johnson said the Health Department does not do regular lead testing in schools. Totoraitis said it would do additional testing in any school attended by children who tested positive for lead poisoning.