Trowbridge students start at new school after testing positive for dangerous levels of lead

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) -- Milwaukee's Trowbridge school is temporarily closed after the school tested positive for high levels of lead.

This is the first time in its history that MPS has had to shut down a school because of lead concerns.

This is the fourth MPS school to go through lead cleaning since the new year.

More than 200 students and 30 staff from Trowbridge now fill the halls of Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning.

The City of Milwaukee Health Department told CBS 58 Monday morning they started lead testing at Trowbridge.

Stephen Davis with MPS says they should have test results within the next few days, and then they can determine how long the students will have to be at Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning.

Angela Callender has three children that go to Trowbridge.

She says the thing that bothered her the most was how quickly they had to adjust.

"What it made me think about was the restructuring of schools, restoring the school, a lot of the schools have been here 200-plus years. It made wonder if MPS has a budget for maintenance and maintaining," said Callender.

Callender also told CBS 58 she's worried what else they will uncover with this cleaning and how it will affect her kids for the rest of the school year.

According to the CDC, even low levels of lead in the blood can negatively impact a child's health.

Adverse effects include damage to the brain and nervous system, slowed growth and development, learning and behavior problems and hearing and speech problems.