Lead screening clinics to be held for MPS students at schools of concern

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --- Officials with the Milwaukee Health Department and Milwaukee Public Schools are providing an update on efforts to address lead concerns in schools.

During a news conference Friday, March 7, officials announced a lead screening clinic for families of four schools. The schools are Golda Meir, Kagel, Maryland Avenue and Trowbridge. The clinic will be held on March 15 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bradley Tech School.

Health officials say progress has been made at Trowbridge school, which closed last week to undergo work for lead risks. The latest clearance report for the school shows 55 samples passed and five failed.

"We have to go through and analyze what were the failure results, what levels were they at, and what rooms were they in," said Tyler Weber, deputy commissioner of environmental health.

Earlier today, the Milwaukee Health Department said Trowbridge could reopen if parts of the school are closed off. Tonight, MPS sent a message out, saying Trowbridge will not reopen on Monday. The district will do another deep clean in areas where high lead levels were found. Then, the health department will retest the school. 

The district says students and staff could return by Friday, March 14. 

"We really want to make sure, if we're returning our students to the school...that the school is open. We don't want to have another transition for the students," said Michael Harris, MPS interim chief school administration officer.

We're also learning that additional schools have been identified for the next round of lead assessment.

The health department is in the process of notifying families of those schools before releasing the information to the public. "We're shooting to do about two schools a day starting next Monday," said Michael Totoraitis, commissioner of health.

The priority for officials is to make sure buildings are safe, but also to ensure students and staff are screened for lead exposure.

"There's a lot of complexity to lead exposure. Everyone's individual biology is going to present differently," said Totoraitis.

With the help of community partners at Children's Wisconsin and Sixteenth Street, additional lead screening clinics will be available to families. Click here for more information.