Milwaukee Health Dept needs help testing MPS schools for lead after hazardous levels found at Kagel Elementary

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Test results reveal a second Milwaukee public school has hazardous levels of lead. Kagel Elementary is the latest MPS school to be investigated by the Milwaukee Health Department.

MPS has five days to remove a significant amount of lead from Kagel, otherwise MHD will start working with the city attorney to close the school. This is in addition to the cleaning MPS is required to do at Golda Meir. Another school will be tested Saturday; a fourth will be tested when staffing allows.

It could be the tip of a dangerous iceberg.

Kagel and Golda Meir were tested after students got sick, but testing schools before children get sick would be an enormous undertaking.

Roughly 180 MPS buildings were built when lead paint was used, but the health department currently does not have the capability to test them all.

Tyler Weber, the Milwaukee Health Department's deputy commissioner, said at a news conference Thursday, Feb. 13, "If they're all equivalent to Golda? There's not enough weeks in the year for us to run all those dust wipe samples."

The health department’s lead risk assessment report at Kagel Elementary reveals that the entire ground floor of the school poses a lead risk hazard. Deteriorating paint in the bathroom, classroom, and halls are one of the main sources of lead hazards in the building.

Weber said, "Even though the averages are lower than Golda on some of these floors, all the work still needs to be done."

MPS must now take immediate -but temporary- action to keep the lead dust in check before full removal can happen.

"That could be scraping or stripping down old paint, it could be us enclosing it," said Devin Hawthorne, the owner of Weatherization Services in Milwaukee.

Hawthorne is a certified lead abatement specialist who walked us through the strictly regulated process. "Making sure containments are set up properly, plastic is set up properly, we have sticky pads going in and out of areas so we're not tracking dust all over the place."

That would need to be done for every room on every floor of every affected school.

How long it could take depends on the size of the building and the crew. Hawthorne said abatement takes about a week in a home; a large school could take two weeks to a month or more, depending on the number of hazards.

And there could be a lot of hazards for MPS, with 180 buildings built in the lead paint era.

Weber said Thursday, "It is really critical that MPS revisits their lead safety plan."

MHD is maxed out on testing: six to eight assessors need six hours to collect more than 100 samples from each school.

And that time commitment does not include collecting water samples, writing the reports, or the department's regular case load throughout the community.

MPS could soon be fighting a war on multiple fronts.

Temporary fixes are underway at Golda Meir school, which will be tested again Friday. "And then we'll see where their efforts have taken them at this point," Weber said.

And they'll have to start on Kagel soon. Maryland Avenue School will be tested this weekend, and another school will be tested when there's time.

They're just four of what could be dozens of schools that require months of attention.

Tyler Weber said, "Even with newer equipment and better processes, we're still strained on this."

At Kagel, health department officials say sinks that don't have filters also have high lead levels and internal plumbing may have to be replaced.

Parents say this is a situation that could have been avoided if MPS kept up with cleaning standards.

Martell has nieces who attend Kagel.

"These kids are our future, and I feel like lead is very dangerous, we all know that. Who would want their kids to be in that type of environment?" said Martell, who did not want to share his last name.

Health department officials say this is an issue that could be present in other MPS buildings.

“It is critical that MPS revisits their lead safety plan and start planning rapidly what they can do to look at their other schools, because they also have not only 180 pre-1978, but they have buildings pre-1900s," said Tyler Weber, the deputy commissioner of environmental health.

Maryland Montessori will be tested this Saturday after a case of potential lead poisoning was reported.

Right now, the health department is working with state partners to see what other state resources could come here to help with testing.

They are also close to finalizing a lead testing clinic for children that attend the affected schools, and for the broader community down the road.