WORCESTER — A relative of a 10-year-old girl who died earlier this month, allegedly after choking on a snack at Belmont Street Community School, said her family is looking for more information from the school district about what happened.

Ken Asago-Adjei, uncle of Marilyn Ofobi Korankyewaa, said she was taken off life support a week ago. He said the family is looking for the "whole truth" about the situation.

"We don’t want to see this (situation) repeat itself," he said, adding that there are "missing parts" in the narrative of the incident provided by the school department.

According to Mr. Asago-Adjei, Marilyn was eating a snack at school on Sept. 11 when she began coughing, and went with a classmate to the bathroom. When her coughing intensified, the friend went to get a teacher; school staff then performed CPR and called for EMTs, he said, and Marilyn was taken to UMass Memorial Medical Center and put on life support.

Mr. Asago-Adjei said the girl’s parents are too grief-stricken to "even open their mouths" and have allowed him to speak on behalf of the family. He described Marilyn’s passing as a devastating premature end to a promising young life.

"She was a very sweet girl, vibrant," he said. "Wherever she is, you feel her presence."

Marilyn was an avid reader and accomplished speaker for her age, he said, and had aspirations to one day become president of the United States.

"What we’re looking for is for (the school) to tell us what exactly caused her to pass," he said. "We want to know what went wrong."

Superintendent Maureen Binienda’s office in a statement called the situation a tragedy, and expressed the school department's wish to respect the immediate family’s request for privacy. The school department had no comment on the incident itself.

