Health Department Shutters MPS School Over Lead Concerns

Milwaukee Public Schools administration building. Charles Edward Miller (CC-BY-SA)

Milwaukee Public Schools‘ ongoing problems with lead poisoning reached a new level Thursday evening.

The district and Milwaukee Health Department (MHD) announced that Trowbridge School of Great Lakes Studies, an elementary school at 1943 E. Trowbridge St., will be temporarily closed to allow for lead abatement work to take place following a MHD review.

The move will send 245 students and up to 40 staff members from the Bay View school to the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning, 1017 N. 12th St., starting Monday.

The announcement follows a series of earlier investigations that revealed “dangerous levels of lead contamination” and MHD issuing corrective orders to abate lead hazards. No amount of lead is safe, and the heavy metal poses a substantial risk for children, who can experience developmental delays, learning difficulties, behavioral problems and other serious health issues.

Unlike the other schools, MHD chose to issue an order to close the school for two reasons said MHD Commissioner Michael Totoraitis at a press conference Friday afternoon at the Zeidler Municipal Building.

One, said the commissioner, a staff member was observed scraping lead paint without any containment measures. More significantly, and possibly connected to the first item, surfaces that previously had been made lead-safe, like painted over lead paint, were revealed to have lead dust on them. “Which to us, tells us that whatever process had been used successfully at the other schools had not been used in Trowbridge and there was the potential that the levels of lead dust within the school were significantly above what had initially been anticipated within the school,” said Totoraitis.

The problem exploded in 2025 because MHD has expanded its Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program investigations. “What started this whole thing is we had levels in cases that weren’t going down,” said Totoraitis. For cases above a specific threshold, a case manager conducts an assessment to determine likely sources of exposure.

Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health Tyler Weber said the Trowbridge investigation was triggered following a child testing positive for a highly elevated blood lead level and a home remediation that didn’t cause blood lead levels to decline to a level that was expected.

A comprehensive assessment of Trowbridge was conducted on Feb. 22, but a visual assessment had already indicated potential issues. “Throughout our communication with MPS and working with them, we could see that there are lead hazards at the school,” said the health commissioner.

The commissioner said the decision to close the school was made collaboratively with MPS. “Obviously, this is a really major shift for the district and extremely difficult for the parents.”

Michael Harris, interim chief school administration officer, said the district is working to improve its practices.

“We recognize that our practices, we have to make sure that we are continuing to improve those practices as we go in to remediate areas in our schools,” said Harris. He thanked parents and teachers for accommodating the temporary change. “We know that when little ones are in our schools we need consistency.”

Work is to occur Friday evening throughout the weekend. The health department will return to the school Monday to evaluate the abatement effort.

“We wanted to make sure we weren’t putting our families at a disadvantage,” said Harris of why virtual schooling isn’t being used.

The administrator said the 12th Street school, located just west of Downtown, was selected because of its proximity to Trowbridge families and its ability to handle the students.

Harris said MPS has lead safe guidance for its building staff and has previously performed abatement work on its buildings. But he said the district would reemphasize its safety practices. “We know that we need to revisit, refocus where things need to be addressed,” said Harris. “We don’t take this lightly.”

The administrator said “external support” has been called on to support building maintenance staff in safely managing lead risks.

The district, said Totoraitis, has until March 21 to provide MHD with an updated maintenance plan. The commissioner said MHD is exploring its options to proactively test schools. It is also expected to announce additional blood lead testing options for parents and guardians next week.

The district and health department do not believe an MPS school has been previously shut down because of lead concerns. MHD has previously closed childcare facilities for lead risks. The Trowbridge closure is being described as voluntary.

Alongside temporarily shuttering Trowbridge, the health department released its pending environmental assessment for Maryland Avenue Montessori School.

“The risk assessment for that school was much better than the other schools. So we’re really pleased to see that school in good shape,” said Totoraitis. The school is still subject to some abatement orders.

The issues with MPS buildings are paint-related. Lead service lines connecting the buildings to the city’s water system were previously removed, though lead internal plumbing fixtures may remain in older buildings.

Buildings constructed prior to 1978 are subject to having lead paint, with the dangerous material banned nationwide from paint that year.

MHD, in assessments, has also identified lead hazards at Golda Meir School‘s Lower Campus and Albert E. Kagel School. The Golda Meir assessment revealed average lead dust levels in windowsills of 1417.9 micrograms per square foot (μg/ft2), exceeding the intervention threshold of 100 by a factor of 14. Totoraitis said the levels at Trowbridge were lower, but the concern is that the issue was found in previously abated areas.

Trowbridge is located in a Cream City brick building in the southeastern corner of Bay View. The oldest portion of the school dates back to 1893 with a large addition constructed in 1909.

MHD maintains a webpage with school by school assessment information.

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