MPS lead exposure; board weighs lawsuit against lead paint manufacturers

MPS board weighs lawsuit against lead paint manufacturers

Milwaukee Public Schools could explore legal options available to the district to "hold lead paint companies accountable" for lead-paint remediation costs in school buildings.

MILWAUKEE - While three Milwaukee Public Schools sites remain closed due to lead exposures, the school district is looking at ways to pay for remediation work and keep better tabs on it.

The next time the board is in session, it will consider a pair of resolutions focused on the district's lead crisis.

Filing suit

What we know:

The first directs MPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius and her staff to work with the Milwaukee city attorney's office on a possible lawsuit – and there's precedent there.

Several California cities and counties won $305 million in 2019 after suing lead paint companies. The complaint argued those companies violated the state's "public nuisance law" by advertising lead paint products as "safe."

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

The example said lead paint sheds water like a duck's back.

Yet, the complaint says Sherwin-Williams knew lead paint was "poisonous in a large degree" as printed in an internal magazine article in 1904. It started making lead paint six years later.

There's just one issue: the parties settled that lawsuit nearly 20 years after it was originally filed.

"As we seek resources to help with remediation efforts, we can't leave any rock unturned," MPS board member Missy Zombor said. "It's incredibly unfair for taxpayers and school districts to have to foot the bill, when the lead paint industry knew that the lead paint was toxic at the time it was being promoted."

More transparency

Dig deeper:

Additionally, the board is working on making its response to the crisis more transparent and accountable.

Kristen Payne founded the parent group Lead Safe Schools MKE. She said she is encouraged the school board could soon make its lead clean-up work more transparent in a dashboard available to the public.

"Holding those folks accountable makes sense, but it can't be what we rely on, because we need this work done now," Payne said. "We can't rely on this being in policy. We have to see the actual results and that in action in order to start building that trust."

The MPS lead remediation dashboard depends on the district finishing its "Lead Action Plan" in conjunction with the Milwaukee Health Department.