Sen. Tammy Baldwin hears from parents impacted by MPS lead crisis, calls out RFK Jr. 

“State of emergency.”

“Crisis.”

“A serious issue.”

These are the words used by parents and concerned residents to describe the ongoing lead problem in Milwaukee Public Schools during a roundtable event with Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Monday. 

At the event, Baldwin heard from people impacted by the crisis that has left children with lead poisoning and led to the temporary closure of six schools.

The visit comes after U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently claimed there was a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in Milwaukee helping the district deal with the issue.

However, those federal positions were cut in April.

“They’re the nation’s premier experts,” Baldwin said about that team Monday. “And they were all fired by this administration and unable to come and team up.”

Some parents were concerned by the decision to cut those positions, including Koa Branch, who has two children who attended Westside Academy. That school was shut down in May due to lead hazards and students and staff have been relocated to Andrew Douglas Middle School.

Branch decided to send one of her children to that middle school while she kept her fourth-grade son home to do virtual learning because he has asthma. During the roundtable, she said she’s angry the city is without the help of the federal experts.

“I just want them (federal government) to take the politics out of it and bring the family into it,” Branch said.

“I’m also angry that he (Kennedy Jr.) doesn’t see this as a crisis,” Branch said after the roundtable. 

Tikiya Frazier, who said she’s a “very active aunt,” has nieces and nephews who attended Westside Academy and Brown Street Academy. Brown Street Academy was shut down on May 12.  

“I want him (Kennedy Jr. ) to understand the youth of today will one day be the civilians of tomorrow,” Frazier said. “We need him to understand that, come and help us … This is a state of emergency for us.” 

Shyquetta McElroy, the executive director of the Coalition on Lead Emergency, said now is not the time for the federal government to withdraw help. 

“These children are people,”  McElroy said. “It is not a blue or a red issue. This is everybody’s issue.” 

McElroy’s son, who is 18 now, tested positive for lead poisoning when he was 9. She said her son now has behavioral and hearing problems.

No amount of lead in the blood is safe for children, according to the CDC. The CDC has found that children under the age of 6 are the most at risk.

“Lead poisoning is a serious issue,” McElroy said. “This is not the time to ignore it.” 

Mike Totoraitis, the city’s health commissioner, said the department requested in March for a CDC Epi-Aid team come to Milwaukee. That team would have come to the city to provide short-term help to the department’s response to the crisis.

But in early April, Totoraitis learned that the experts who would’ve managed that team had been fired and his request was denied.

Totoraitis said he quickly learned about Kennedy Jr.’s comments when he was speaking at a Senate hearing.

“Either he’s misinformed or is potentially misrepresenting the information,” Totoraitis said. “And who knows which is more concerning.” 

“It’s frustrating for me because our team is working tirelessly to try to address this,” he added. 

Sen. Ron Johnson was also recently asked about the federal help by reporters after an event in Milwaukee. Johnson said the lead crisis is an issue the state and city “ought to be able to handle on its own,” according to a CBS58 report.

Baldwin said she hasn’t heard back from Kennedy Jr. about the position cuts.

“We’ve got to hold the Trump administration accountable, and they could make the situation better today by rehiring these experts,” Baldwin said.

A spokesperson from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent WPR a statement Monday, saying the CDC is “assisting with validating new lab instrumentation used for environmental lead testing.” It’s the same response the department sent following questions about Kennedy’s statements last month.

A Milwaukee Health Department spokesperson previously said a CDC staff member was in the city for two weeks last month helping the department set up a new machine to help process lead samples.

MPS plans to clean buildings this summer

The Milwaukee Public Schools district released its Lead Action Plan in April. MPS plans to perform visual lead hazard inspections at 106 elementary schools built before 1978 by the start of the next school year.

Lead-based paint was banned by the federal government in 1978. Lead dust is often formed as lead paint chips and wear down, according to the CDC.

The plan prioritizes the oldest buildings with the youngest kids. Lead cleanup work will occur at around 40 to 50 schools over the summer, according to Totoaritis. 

“Simply painting and cleaning the schools will be major strides in the right direction,” Totoaritis said about the plan.