LaFollette Elementary becomes 7th school cleared of lead dangers, according to MPS
LaFollette Elementary School has been cleared of dangers caused by lead paint, Milwaukee Public Schools announced June 11. It's the seventh school to have passed recent inspections for lead hazards by the City of Milwaukee Health Department.
LaFollette school was constructed in 1897, making it among the oldest in MPS.
An inspection in March found the building had dangerous levels of chipping paint and dust where young children could potentially ingest it, creating a poisoning hazard.
More than 1,000 children in Milwaukee each year are poisoned by lead, mostly due to paint in older houses, according to the city. But a widespread lack of lead paint maintenance in MPS schools came to light in early 2025 after city health officials announced a child had been poisoned by lead paint at Golda Meir Lower Campus.
LaFollette was among the early batch of six schools that closed temporarily this spring so lead hazards could be remediated. Closures affected about 1,800 MPS students.
In closing March 17, LaFollette's 216 students in kindergarten through eighth grade transitioned to the Wisconsin Conservatory of Lifelong Learning. They will remain there until the end of the school year on Friday, June 13 — about 13 weeks since the initial closure.
MPS said that this summer, it will remediate lead paint in all schools built before 1950 that also educate elementary-age kids. It will do the same in schools built between 1950 and 1978 by the end of the calendar year.
'I'm grateful to the LaFollette School community for their continued partnership and patience as we undertook this important work,' Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said in a statement. 'A disruption like this one is never easy, but this school community navigated it with the best interests of students at the forefront. I'm glad we are making good progress on our lead stabilization efforts in our school buildings, guided by our Lead Action Plan. Our students and families deserve school buildings that are safe and welcoming.'
According to an inspection report, 50% or more of painted surfaces at LaFollette were found to be deteriorating. "Heavy" levels of paint dust were found throughout the building, the report said.
Chipping and peeling paint was found in classrooms with kindergarten-age children and children with disabilities, and in cafeteria areas, the report said.
The inspection report also noted signs of disturbed asbestos, which pose "notable health (risks) to both adults & children)."
MPS spokesperson Stephen Davis said that, during the March inspection at LaFollette, two potential asbestos-related issues were found: deteriorating plaster in a few areas and the end of the asbestos-containing pipe insulation was exposed and uncovered.
The Environmental Protection Agency and Milwaukee Health Department were told the deteriorating plaster was not asbestos-containing, according to historical sample results.
In addressing the issue with the pipe insulation, MPS' Environmental Health Services put in an emergency work order to seal the small section of pipe; that work was completed March 17. The pipe's wrapping was repaired to maintain the covering. No asbestos was removed.
"The repaired canvas covering maintains the asbestos in a safe manner," Davis said.
For LaFollette and all other MPS facilities that follow the EPA's Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act regulation, the district has an asbestos management plan in place to manage and address any maintenance and repair requests. That plan has been in place since the 1980s, he said.
MPS also conducts re-inspections to assess the condition of asbestos-containing materials in each school every three years, as required by the EPA. Every six months between reinspections, the school's building engineer checks the building to ensure the asbestos-containing material within the building is undamaged, Davis said.
Any damage identified during a three-year reinspection or six-month building check gets immediately fixed through the MPS work order system.
Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information about Report for America, visit jsonline.com/rfa.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 128-year-old LaFollette Elementary School abated for lead, MPS says,
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LaFollette Elementary becomes 7th school cleared of lead dangers, according to MPS
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