MILWAUKEE — Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Director of Facilities and Maintenance Services Sean Kane was "separated from the district," according to MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius.
He was removed from the position Thursday, April 3, MPS leaders said.
“I want to thank him for his 25 years of service to our district. I will immediately begin a search for a permanent replacement," Cassellius said on removing Kane as MPS Director of Facilities and Maintenance Services.
MPS and Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) leaders would not directly comment on why Kane was removed during a Thursday press conference. However, documents obtained by Spectrum News 1 from the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services showed Kane was fined $1,319 for operating in this role without a valid architect license, which is a state requirement.
“I never want to see anybody lose their job or their role. However, I do think at this moment it is, it was warranted to help move us into this next step," MHD Commissioner Mike Totoraitis said about Kane's removal.
Cassellius is searching for Kane’s replacement. In the meantime, she’s bringing on Michael Mannan, the MHD Director of Home Environmental Health.
“He’s going to step in to support us full time. He brings more than 25 years of experience in code enforcement, lead risk assessment and environmental hazard mitigate on,” Cassellius said.
Cassellius also asked retired MPS employee Michale Turza to help lead the facilities and maintenance department temporarily.
“As you recall, I brought him on my transition team when I first started to help us with the governor's operational audit, and he's been overseeing the lead work since then,” Cassellius said.
Federal workers who were helping with lead remediation efforts at MPS were terminated amid U.S. Health and Human Services Department cuts, Totoraitis confirmed at a press conference on Thursday.
He said MHD had originally reached out to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January based on state recommendations to acquire an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer, who could help investigate the public health threat.
By doing so, MHD was able to connect with people at the federal level for support. Totoraitis said MHD shared information with people at the National Center for Environmental Health and the Childhood Lead Prevention Program. Those programs helped provide technical support for the medical toxicology reports and validating visual inspection work at MPS schools.
“They were providing a lot of really good support,” he said.
At the end of March, Totoraitis said MHD put in a formal request to the CDC for additional staff to come to Milwaukee to help implement their mass screening plan for the district.
But on Tuesday, he said MHD was notified that those employees were terminated, and no longer employed by the CDC.
He said they’d already undergone the planning process for the screening plan and are continuing it. The initial request MHD submitted for more help with now be transferred to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, which is moving under the CDC as HHS undergoes reorganization. Totoraitis said ATSDR is now reevaluating to see if they can send people to help.
Fernwood Montessori School, Starms Early Childhood Center and LaFollette School remain closed for lead, but more schools have been affected.
