A father is blaming his daughter’s death on a negligent school district. 12-year-old Laporshia Massey, daughter of Daniel Burch, died on September 25th of an asthma attack that started while she was in class at Bryant Elementary School.

Like many schools across the States, Bryant Elementary School was faced with budget cuts. And one of the ways they saved money was to only have a nurse on duty two days a week. The nurse was gone the day Laporshia died. Nonetheless, the school staff called Daniel twice to warn him that his daughter “felt sick.” But Daniel was told she could make it through the day.

When Laporshia got home and Daniel saw how bad her condition was, he rushed her to the hospital. But Laporshia lost consciousness on the way and died shortly after. Daniel’s lawyer, Ronald S. Pollack, says “This is unacceptable. Anyone who’s trained to recognize the situation would know we’ve got to call 911 or get this child to a hospital.”

According to Daniel, Laporshia always carried an inhaler to school even when she didn’t need it. However, her inhaler was not found among her belongings after her death. Daniel and his family have not yet decided whether they’ll file a wrongful death lawsuit against the school district.

With many schools facing budget cuts across the nation, Bryant Elementary School is not the only one without a fulltime nurse. If your child has asthma, make sure you have an Asthma Action Plan in place and that your child carries their inhaler wherever they go.