In memoriam: Elementary school student Laporshia Massey

The smiling school portrait of Laporshia Massey, an asthmatic who died after falling sick at an elementary school with no nurse on duty, sadly became the face of tragedy amid the Philadelphia public-school crisis.The long-underfunded school system has been reeling in the wake of Gov. Tom Corbett’s deep spending cuts, and began this school year with 7,000 fewer employees than at its 2009 peak. Support staff, including nurses and counselors, are operating at critically low levels. At Bryant Elementary School in West Philadelphia, where Laporshia was a sixth grader, a school nurse is on site only two days a week. Laporshia’s death on Sept. 25, first reported by City Paper in October, garnered widespread attention and increased pressure on Corbett to release $45 million in federal funds he had withheld from city schools. On Oct. 16, he released the funds even though the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers continued to resist the contract and salary concessions he demanded.

Laporshia’s father has retained a lawyer and is considering filing a lawsuit, but sources close to an official investigation say that they have uncovered evidence of parental neglect that might have contributed to her medical condition. It will perhaps never be conclusively determined whether the presence of a nurse would have saved Laporshia that day. But the chance that it could have has galvanized public-education advocates.