Brittany Kinser, the centrist candidate for DPI Superintendent, slammed Milwaukee Public Schools and the Jill Underly-led Department of Public Instruction for “gross mismanagement” after Milwaukee’s mayor revealed that initial tests at two schools found “alarming levels of lead.”
The investigation that led to that discovery was prompted by a sickened child.
“MPS and DPI continue to fail our students, with this latest episode permanently maiming children due to gross mismanagement,” Kinser said. “An investigation must be launched immediately and DPI, Milwaukee Schools, and the Milwaukee School Board must transparently detail to Milwaukee parents how they intend to keep their children safe.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, flanked by the MPS superintendent, confirmed that the discovery was prompted by medical providers realizing that some young students had elevated levels of lead in their blood. “Serious lead hazards have been identified,” the mayor said, and Health Department Director Dr. Michael Totoraitis also revealed that the investigation was prompted by a “lead poisoned child” in Milwaukee. The Health Department discovered lead at Golda Meir School’s lower campus and Kagel School. Maryland Avenue Montessori also had a “strong potential presence of deteriorated lead paint.”
In a Feb. 5 letter to MPS, Totoraitis wrote that the Milwaukee Health Department had “identified dangerous levels of lead contamination in multiple Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) buildings.” They exceed “state safety standings” and “failure to act swiftly and effectively will place children at serious risk of lead poisoning, developmental delays and other possible health complications.”
Johnson said the lead problem in the schools will be resolved.
However, Kinser said that’s not good enough.
“As a former principal, I am no stranger to lead testing and abatement of school facilities. That this could have slipped through the cracks is just this week’s most outrageous example that our kids deserve better than what DPI and MPS are providing,” said Kinser.
Kinser is running in the Feb. 18 primary against two far-left candidates, Underly and WEAC PAC-endorsed Jeff Wright. In a stunning rebuke, Democrat Gov. Tony Evers has refused to endorse the Democratic incumbent, Underly, who has been embroiled in controversies for months over watering down of school testing scores and failure to promptly tell the public about serious financial issues in MPS before a massive referendum vote.
In a separate news release, Kinser wrote that she “is the outsider in this campaign to be the next Superintendent of Public Instruction and Jeff Wright and Jill Underly are running scared.”
“Today, Jill Underly skipped the WisPolitics forum in Madison, in effect doubling down on her support for lowering education standards which she can’t defend,” she wrote. “Meanwhile, her partner in crime, Jeff Wright, took to the stage trying to explain why another education bureaucrat should continue the status quo at DPI.”
Kinser emphasized that has years of education experience “and work as a special education teacher, principal, education consultant, instructional leadership coach, and CEO of a Milwaukee education advocacy nonprofit to make fundamental change for our kids.”
Kinser for Wisconsin Campaign Manager Amy Loudenbeck said in the release:
“The education establishment is running scared because Brittany Kinser is a reform-minded outsider who has what it takes to fix the broken education system in Wisconsin. Only 3 in 10 Wisconsin kids can read, and it’s unacceptable. Brittany‘s opponents have nothing to offer Wisconsin voters besides more of the same and will not create the change we need for our kids.”
