Students return to Trowbridge Elementary after its weeklong closure due to lead concerns
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- More than a week after it closed for lead cleaning, Trowbridge Elementary reopened its doors to students and staff.
The school had been closed for more than a week to undergo an intensive lead cleaning process.
“I told her, now you get to have your old classroom back, and you know, all your belongings, so that’s really nice too,” said Olivia Heredia, a parent dropping her daughter off to Trowbridge.
Earlier this year, Trowbridge was one of four Milwaukee Public Schools where students tested positive for high levels of lead.
“Sometimes with the older buildings, even older houses in Milwaukee, there are those concerns that do happen,” said Heredia.
During the cleaning process, a staff member was seen scraping lead paint without proper safety measures. When Trowbridge was retested, results showed the repainted surface still had high levels of lead — which is why MPS and the Milwaukee Health Department decided to close the school down for a more intensive cleaning process.
“How come as parents, as families- my daughter does have chronic asthma- why weren’t we informed before they shut the school down?” said Heredia.
More than 200 students and 30 staff members were relocated to Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning.
“You have to quickly adapt to the situation when it occurred and when it happened,” said William Willis, a Trowbridge parent.
Now, families are celebrating its reopening.
“We were so excited. We could not wait to get back to our school, this is our home school. This is actually the school I came to when I was a child,” said Heredia.
She got her daughter tested for lead before returning.
“As long as my baby’s good, I’m good,” said Heredia.
While some parents say their concerns still remain, many say they’re just happy to be back.
“Lead has been around for years, so we’re hoping that we can resolve the issue at some point,” said Willis. “They were like man, yeah, we’re glad to be back at the school, so it’s like they see the balloons, it’s just balloons, but you know, the kids want more like a party or something.”