MILWAUKEE — The man in charge of Milwaukee Public Schools’ lead clean up is out.
On Thursday, multiple sources confirmed that Sean Kane is no longer serving as MPS’ facilities and maintenance director, effective immediately.
For two months, Jenna Rae has been reporting on Kane. He has been leading the charge to remediate unsafe lead levels inside several MPS buildings.
That charge has come with significant scrutiny, as Kane’s promises and on-record remarks have fallen short. At a Feb. 11 press conference, Kane said multiple times that school buildings were safe.
Since then, several schools have recorded unsafe lead levels, with some required to stay closed until they pass inspections.
On Feb. 14, Rae reported that Kane was hired as MPS’ facilities director in 2021 without the required license. Records show he didn't renew it until three years later, in July 2024, after someone filed a complaint with the state.
"Whose responsibility do you think it was to ensure your license was intact before you were appointed and approved for this position?" Rae asked Kane on Feb. 14.
"I would honestly think it's human resources," Kane responded.
"So, there was no indication that you should've been checking that your license was in good standing before being in this position?" Rae rebutted.
"Not from my understanding. Again, I honestly thought my license was active during that whole time," Kane answered.
Watch: Sean Kane out as MPS facilities director amid lead safety controversy
Two days before that interview, we found Kane signed a final decision and order from the state licensing division, acknowledging it was his responsibility to ensure his registration status remained active.
"What you're telling me clearly demonstrates that he's willfully lying, and I think that's a huge issue," MPS parent Ron Jansen said.
"I think it's just another sort of piece of evidence that this person is not trustworthy to lead this department, which is really responsible for cleaning up these buildings," Kristen Payne, an MPS parent and founder of Lead Safe Schools MKE, said.
Later Thursday morning, MPS’ new superintendent, Brenda Cassellius, confirmed Kane's removal at a joint press conference with the City of Milwaukee, MPS, and the Milwaukee Health Department.
In response to the news, Lead Safe Schools MKE, an MPS parent-led group, released a statement calling for urgent action to ensure safe, healthy school buildings, thanking Cassellius for "listening to community input," and urging the Mayor of Milwaukee to take responsibility for the condition of MPS buildings.
You can read the statement below:
"“Lead-Safe Schools MKE believes that effective and urgent action is needed to make our school buildings healthy and safe. We need competent and strong leadership to help us through this crisis. We want to thank Dr. Brenda Cassellius for listening to community input and following our calls for the removal of Sean Kane from his position as Senior Director of MPS’ Department of Facilities and Maintenance Services.
Sean Kane’s ouster is an important step in the right direction. In his position, he oversaw how maintenance was handled throughout the district. Given the deteriorated state of these buildings, we know he did not do his job well. Adding insult to injury, he also oversaw unsafe lead remediation practices, further exposing school staff and students to a neurotoxin.
Our work toward lead-safe schools for our community does not stop here. Effective leadership is needed at the state and local level to ensure that MPS is properly funded and managed. The health of our children and our community for decades to come is at stake.
- We call on the Mayor of Milwaukee to take responsibility for the state of the MPS school buildings which the city owns and to offer financial and technical assistance for the remediation and renovation of these dilapidated buildings.
- We call on the state legislature and the state superintendent to work to increase funding for MPS. Specifically, closing the specific education funding gap and raising revenue limits while adjusting for inflation in the funding formula.
- We call on the MPS administration to investigate how this crisis occurred with certified lead-safe staff, contractors, and environmental health specialists under their employment.
- We call on MPS to hire more environmental health experts and a new facilities director with a proven record of effectively managing aging buildings safely. The administration would be wise to include community input on these hires.”
The statement concluded with the parent-led group inviting the public to attend its next Community Assembly on Saturday, April 12, to learn more about the crisis, connect to resources, and "take action to drive meaningful change."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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