Milwaukee, WI — As we come to the end of the school year, Lead-Safe Schools MKE wants to ensure that the community knows exactly where and how our leaders are failing our children, and what we are doing to hold them accountable. At a time when children across the city are still being required to go into buildings that MPS and the Milwaukee Health Department knows are unsafe, it feels imperative to speak bluntly.
Broadly speaking, it is clear that the majority of our leaders are treating the lead crisis not like the true public health emergency that it is, but like a public relations crisis. At a time when our children are being poisoned daily by lead in their water, soil, and school buildings, these leaders’ failure to act with urgency, integrity, and transparency is a deep betrayal.
We are disturbed by the lack of accountability and transparency coming from MPS, MHD, and the officials entrusted with the health of Milwaukee residents. MPS’ 192-page public-facing lead action plan with its dozen “appendixes” is mostly the same program that was in place beginning in 2024, before the current lead crisis began, begging the question: why does MPS refuse to focus on transparency and accountability measures? For instance, data on their district-wide visual assessments has not been updated or refreshed in any timely manner and there are no accountability action steps in their current plan. How are they going to ensure that facilities won’t be mismanaged again? How are they prioritizing keeping the community updated on current steps and upcoming plans for remediation? How are they ensuring that the information they are putting out is easily accessible and understandable? Plainly, they appear most concerned about their public image instead of correcting the harm they have caused our community.
We are appalled by the hollow gestures, empty meetings, photo ops, and platitudes taking the place of meaningful dialogue and transparency. And these institutions are being rewarded nonetheless. For instance, MHD was awarded the “Excellence in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Award” from the Wisconsin Public Health Association (WPHA) for its work on the MPS lead crisis, despite the fact that they did not close schools at the beginning of the crisis, have continued to put out inconsistent messaging about the safety of the public school buildings, and are not forcefully and publicly lobbying the city and state for additional resources. From state legislators to local bureaucrats, we see a total lack of urgency and political will without the promise of a photo op or campaign donation. Not one of our “leaders” is leading.
Our message to MPS and MHD is this: we see that you are managing more than is fair for you to carry. But putting out public communications that deprioritize transparency and accountability measures is directly counter to what the community has asked of you. This will only hurt us all in the long run. Let us help. We are the parents and families with whom you need to be communicating — work with us. Do not confuse our questions or critique with hostility. We all want our children to be safe, and we assume you do too.
One of the reasons MPS is struggling to carry this load is that they are confronted with a lack of public leadership support. The silence from Milwaukee’s mayor, city council, county board, and state delegation is deafening. Where are the champions? Why isn’t anyone standing up for our families?
While communities like ours are still fighting for meaningful action, the Republicans in the state senate just handed a gift to Wisconsin’s only private water utility, allowing them to tap into federal funds – aka, public money– for lead line replacement in a limited part of the state, even as the GOP gutted $200 million for lead line replacement among other lead-protection measures in the Governor’s budget proposal meant for municipalities like ours. Senate bill 56, which would award this private utility public funds, is from the same playbook as voucher schools – take money from public institutions and give money to private entities, eroding public infrastructure. Our elected officials need to be funding our shared public entities, whose priority is our health and safety rather than private profit margins. Giving private entities the ability to tap into state resources is part of what created this disaster in the first place and we hope Governor Evers vetoes this sham of a bill if it makes it to his desk.
We are appreciative of State Representatives Margaret Arney and Darrin Madison’s statement encouraging the Joint Finance Committee to reinstate funding for provisions aimed at decontaminating Wisconsin homes, schools, and communities from lead. While statements like these are needed we would like to see more forceful campaigns that demand state and local-level solutions. Unfortunately, electeds like Senator Baldwin and Congresswoman Moore are critical of the lack of CDC presence during the MPS lead crisis, yet at the same time they appear silent on any state or local actions to address the issue. Indeed, this hyperfocus on Trump’s CDC while ignoring state and local levers of power appears to be a popular narrative in the media and with Democratic lawmakers. We’re unimpressed with this narrative. Communities in Wisconsin have been known to be lead contaminated for many years before the CDC program was dismantled. We understand that elected officials from all political parties are to blame.
As parents, we are beyond frustrated. Our children are not expendable. Their health cannot wait. Every day of delay, of hiding from transparency, is another day of irreversible harm. And right now, not one person in power is acting like this is the emergency it is.
Lead-Safe Schools MKE is not interested in these performative politics. We will continue to demand policy and system changes needed to keep all our kids safe from lead. We will continue to hold accountable any system that hinders, prevents, or stalls this work. And we are committed to transparency, timely dissemination of verifiable information, reliance on health science data, and a community focus. Our allegiance is to Milwaukee’s children and community, first and foremost.
