MILWAUKEE — Families say they want answers and the truth about federal efforts to address Milwaukee Public Schools’ lead crisis.
District and local health officials are disputing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that a federal team is on the ground responding to the issue.
Four schools that were found to be contaminated with lead paint remain closed as the school year winds down.
Luecrisha Scales’ granddaughter goes to Starms Early Childhood Center where lead cleanup efforts just ended.
“I was very concerned because I had taken her to the doctor and they detected lead in her system and I didn’t know where it was coming from, possibly so to find out the schools have lead, yeah, that was concerning,” Scales said.
For months, the health department and MPS have collaborated to remove lead from 10 schools.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy Jr. told senators on Tuesday that a federal team is helping with those efforts.
“In Milwaukee, we have a team in Milwaukee and we’re giving laboratory support to the analytics in Milwaukee and we’re working with the health department in Milwaukee,” he told a Senate subcommittee.
Milwaukee Public Schools said ‘RFK is mistaken.”
The Milwaukee Health Department told the Scripps News Group station in Milwaukee that "there is no team from HHS or CDC in Milwaukee assisting with the MPS lead hazard response.”
Mayor Cavalier Johnson said the false claims make him furious.
“It’s a lie and it’s a slap in the face to those kids and those families in Milwaukee,” he said.
A Milwaukee Health Department spokesperson told the Scripps News Group the only federal involvement was a visit earlier this month from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab employee who helped them onboard equipment.
Johnson said the CDC denied the city’s request for lead poisoning experts to address contamination.
Watch: MPS families want answers after district says RFK Jr. falsely claimed federal team is helping with lead crisis
“We’ve got kids in Milwaukee who have suffered from lead poisoning and there are experts in the federal government, in H.H.S., in C.D.C. that could have been here on the ground providing that additional support to amplify what we’re able to do at the local level and instead, it’s not,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Scales said she has a message for Kennedy
“I think he should be honest and transparent about what’s going on and if he still needs to send a team to Milwaukee, then he should do that and just don’t say it, do it,” she said.
In a statement, HHS said, “At the request of the Milwaukee Health Department Laboratory (MHDL), CDC is assisting with validating new lab instrumentation used for environmental lead testing. Staff from MHDL are focused on the lead response and other routine testing while CDC will assist with testing validation, laboratory quality management, and regulatory requirement documentation to onboard the new laboratory instrument.”
This story was originally reported by Ben Jordan with the Scripps News Group in Milwaukee.
