By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 1:48 AM Friday, September 23, 2011
DAYTON — Two months before 9-year-old Unique Figgers collapsed at Westwood PreK-8 School and died Tuesday, Dayton Public Schools laid off 10 school nurses — one-third of its nursing staff.
Among them was the full-time nurse at Westwood, which now has one nurse splitting her days between the elementary school and Thurgood Marshall High School. On Tuesday morning, when Unique collapsed after reportedly telling friends she felt dizzy, the school nurse was at Belmont High School as part of a team performing vision screenings.
Though the cause of death still has not been determined as investigators await test results following Wednesday’s autopsy, the girl’s sudden death has put a spotlight on the nursing staff reductions and sparked concern among some who wonder whether having a school nurse on duty that day might have changed the outcome.
