MPH to announce children's lead testing clinic soon, no reopen date for Trowbridge School yet

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On Wednesday, March 5, the Milwaukee Health Department announced lead testing clinics will start soon for students who attend the four MPS schools that have tested positive for dangerous levels of lead.

The department also unveiled a timeline for when MPS must address issues at the currently closed Trowbridge School.

Also Wednesday, there was a call with federal health authorities about expanding testing to every school in the district.

At the health department's monthly meeting, Milwaukee Health Commissioner Mike Totoraitis said, "It's a high number of children that are at high risk."

About 10,000 children under the age of six may be exposed to lead poisoning in four affected MPS schools.

Testing them all would be a massive undertaking that MPH simply is not equipped to handle at this time.

So they'll start smaller, testing students who attend the four schools.

Totoraitis said, "The testing for the four primary schools that we're in will happen very soon, which we're grateful to have that going."

Totoraitis said public health and MPS are working with Children's Wisconsin and Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers to build a lead testing clinic.

That could happen as early as next weekend. Based on the results, expanded testing could be planned.

But scaling it up to test the entire district population will require more resources.

Totoraitis was on the phone with the CDC earlier Wednesday to discuss getting federal support. "We're really affirming for us to see we're already taking a lot of those steps the CDC recommended."

Also Wednesday, updates were published for two of the affected schools:

11 rooms were stabilized at Maryland Avenue Montessori School Tuesday. The entire school will be deep cleaned next, and the health department does not expect to have to close the school.

But Trowbridge School remains closed, and could be for a while.

Totoraitis said, "We are making a plan to test the school, make sure we're in good shape for it to reopen at an appropriate time 50 But beyond that, I don't have a specific timeline for reopening."

The health department has ordered MPS to finish cleaning interior surfaces by March 19. But cleaning the entire interior and exterior of the historic Trowbridge building will take much longer.

And other MPS schools could soon be added to the list.

"Parents should be paying attention to this. This is a major issue for our city," Totoraitis said.

The health department will have another update Friday, where they're planning to announce the details of the lead testing clinic.