New MPS superintendent on lead hazards, funding needs

MILWAUKEE - New Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius inherited a number of problems, perhaps most notably lead hazards that have temporarily forced some students from their classrooms.

FOX6's Bria Jones spoke to Cassellius one-on-one to discuss her plans for Wisconsin's largest school district. This is part one of a two-part story.

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On what to prioritize

Jones: "What grade would you give the district currently?"
Cassellius: "Well needs improvement."

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Jones: "When you say needs improvement, what letter is that?"
Cassellius: "I don’t always do letter grading. I do on the quality scale, so there’s just a lot of things that we need to pay attention to in Milwaukee Public School and make sure we are moving forward in a way that gives kids everything that they need in order to succeed."

Jones: "Right now, what are your key priorities?"
Cassellius: "Lead is a key priority, and getting underneath that, making sure that we are working some of those orders that we are discovering, that we need to backfill and make sure schools are getting the attention that they need for their facility improvements – that is key and important. Secondarily, we need to get under the academic agenda, so I’m anxious to get the governor’s audit for our academic programs, so we can start to make sure children are able to read and learn in our schools. And then third is really building back the trust and transparency of the district with the public."

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On lead hazards

Jones: "Have you ever tackled or dealt with a problem this large, as big as this lead issue?"
Cassellius: "(In Boston) we didn’t have clean water coming into our schools. Actually, the water was clean coming into our schools, but not the pipes that got to the places where the water was coming out of the water for kids to drink, so I went into the mayor’s office and asked him for resources in order to take care of that."

Jones: "What are the resources that you asked for? What did you get that you needed to solve the problem?"
Cassellius: "In Boston I asked for $10 million, but it’s a different funding system. In Boston, the city funds the schools for the majority part, and only the state funded 10% for the schools."

Jones: "Mayor Johnson says he’s looking forward to working with you. Have you considered going to him asking for funding to help with this lead crisis?"
Cassellius: "Mayor Johnson has been a great support of our schools, and so has his staff. We’ve been working with the city on this lead crisis, and they’ve already been a huge support with the testing and making sure we are coming up with really solid plans for remediation. I think Mayor Johnson will work with us hand-in-hand in trying to find and secure funding for schools, and we’re going to look in ours."

Jones: "The state released information saying that MPS was actually exposing or putting students more at risk during some of the remediation efforts, and the district released a statement saying changes have been made. What changes have you all made to how you are cleaning up this lead issue?"
Cassellius: "Well we have someone that is overseeing all of the lead now, the lead work with our facilities – that’s one. Two, we are working with trained lead advisors who are certified. Three, we are doing employee training."

Editor's note: Quotes were lightly edited for clarity. The meaning was kept intact.