Lead-Safe Schools MKE believes that effective and urgent action is needed to make our school buildings healthy and safe. We need competent and strong leadership to help us through this crisis. We want to thank Dr. Brenda Cassellius for listening to community input and following our calls for the removal of Sean Kane from his position as Senior Director of MPS’ Department of Facilities and Maintenance Services.
Sean Kane’s ouster is an important step in the right direction. In his position, he oversaw how maintenance was handled throughout the district. Given the deteriorated state of these buildings, we know he did not do his job well. Adding insult to injury, he also oversaw unsafe lead remediation practices, further exposing school staff and students to a neurotoxin.
Our work toward lead-safe schools for our community does not stop here. Effective leadership is needed at the state and local level to ensure that MPS is properly funded and managed. The health of our children and our community for decades to come is at stake.
- We call on the Mayor of Milwaukee to take responsibility for the state of the MPS school buildings which the city owns and to offer financial and technical assistance for the remediation and renovation of these dilapidated buildings.
- We call on the state legislature and the state superintendent to work to increase funding for MPS. Specifically, closing the specific education funding gap and raising revenue limits while adjusting for inflation in the funding formula.
- We call on the MPS administration to investigate how this crisis occurred with certified lead-safe staff, contractors, and environmental health specialists under their employment.
- We call on MPS to hire more environmental health experts and a new facilities director with a proven record of effectively managing aging buildings safely. The administration would be wise to include community input on these hires.
Lead-Safe Schools MKE invites the public to attend our next Community Assembly on Saturday, April 12 from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at East Branch Library, 2320 N. Cramer St., to learn more about the crisis, get connected to resources, and engage in action to push more meaningful change. The work of ensuring healthy and safe schools is just beginning.
