2 more MPS schools to close as part of ongoing lead issue

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Two Milwaukee public schools are set to close because of lead hazards as the district continues to battle an ongoing lead crisis. 

Westside Academy will close starting May 5 and Brown Street Academy will close starting May 12. They are the eighth and ninth MPS schools to close. 

Students from those schools will be relocated to other MPS buildings for the remainder of the school year. This comes just as the district announced its lead action plan has been completed and released. 

“The lead action plan will provide our roadmap moving forward," said MPS Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius. 

The plan, which was approved by the Milwaukee Health Department, outlines how the district will address lead in its buildings going forward. Every building will go through visual lead testing and lead samples. Students will be relocated when necessary. 

“Much of that work will happen over the summer," said Cassellius.

Lead result reports show several windowsills and walls inside Brown Street Academy with chipped lead paint. 

“The level of degradation is something that didn’t happen overnight. It could have been years of paint degradation," said Michael Totoraitis, the commissioner of health with the Milwaukee Health Department

The district will cover the costs of lead remediation for every school and expects the cost to be millions of dollars. 

“There is significant work that needs to be done in many parts of the building," said Cassellius. We’ve paid about $2 million so far in invoices and expect further invoices to come as we continue to add schools."

In the lead action plan, the district says it will include two full-time staff members dedicated to fixing this lead crisis in its proposed 2025-2026 budget. One of those positions is for a field inspector who would review 60 buildings for lead every year. 

“More than 100 of our school buildings were built before 1978, which is when lead paint was banned in this country. We assume all of those schools have lead in them," said Cassellius.

MPS plans on working through multiple buildings over the summer and expects that 54 of its buildings will be tested and cleared for lead before the start of next school year. District officials say an additional 52 buildings will be tested and cleared of lead by the end of this calendar year. 

“These are short-term inconveniences for a long-term stability plan," said Totoraitis.

District officials say students will remain with the same teachers they have had all school year.