Outrage grows over sixth grader's death due to asthma
The death of a West Philadelphia sixth grader last month from asthma complications continued to spark outrage Friday even as the Philadelphia School District clarified actions staff at Bryant Elementary School took the day the girl became ill.
Much of the anger stems from the lack of a nurse on duty on Sept. 25 who could have recognized Laporcha Massey's distress. Bryant has a nurse only two days a week.
District spokesman Fernando Gallard said Friday that after Laporcha reported feeling ill, the school twice called her home to ask someone to pick her up. When no one came by dismissal time, around 2:45 p.m., an aide felt sorry for the 12-year-old and drove her home.
In an article in Thursday's City Paper, Daniel Burch, the girl's father, said he took Laporcha to an emergency room shortly after she arrived from school. And he wondered whether she might still be alive if a nurse had been at school that day. She died at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia that evening.
Burch has not returned several calls from The Inquirer and did not
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