MILWAUKEE — As Trowbridge School re-opened Friday after a 10-day shut-down for lead remediation, three other schools are temporarily closing starting Monday, March 17, due to dangerous levels of lead.
The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) schools that will be closing Monday are Starms Early Childhood Center, LaFollette School and Fernwood Montessori.
Derek Peterson’s daughter, Clementine, is a third grader at Fernwood. He said he understands the situation but admitted it’s still unsettling.
“It’s an old school. It’s bound to happen. It’s unfortunate that they’re having to move so quickly with kind of no notice,” Petersen said.
He said he now plans to get his daughter tested for lead exposure.
Fernwood’s students and staff will temporarily relocate to Andrew Douglas Middle School, about 10 miles away. That’s the farthest relocation distance among the three schools.
Starms Early Childhood students and staff are being moved nearby to Starms Discovery Learning Center.
LaFollette School students and staff are being placed at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning.
Kevin Hafemann, the emergency operations manager for MPS, said he can’t say exactly how long the lead remediation will take at each school.
Among the first round of schools that had lead contamination, the clean-up time varied. Trowbridge Elementary closed for 10 days. Golda Meir, Kagel Elementary and Maryland Montessori did not have to close for an extended period.
Schools reopen based on Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) clearance checks that make sure lead levels meet safety standards
Hafemann acknowledged that more closures will likely come as MPS and MHD take proactive measures to protect students and staff from lead.
“It’s our hope that it’s never more schools, but we do have a plan in place that we’re going to start working through those,” Hafemann said. “We tiered [the schools]. We have that plan in place with the most vulnerable — our oldest schools — first and we just methodically work through it.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, whose own children attend MPS schools, said he’s in close communication with MHD about this public health risk.
“We’re working with MPS in order to get access to those buildings, in order to test for lead, in order to see what the exposure risks are. So, there’s always more work that needs to be done,” Johnson said.
Johnson recommended families with children who attend the schools get their kids tested for lead exposure.
MPS and MHD are hosting a drive-thru lead testing clinic at Bradley Tech High School on Saturday, March 15 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For more information and other lead testing clinic options, click here.
