WHITELAND, Ind. — The mother of a 15-year-old high school student who drowned in a swimming pool during physical education class demands the school board take action.
Alaina Dildine was the identified student who drowned during a P.E. class at Whiteland High School in May. The coroner’s office ruled Didline’s death as accidental by seizure and drowning.
At a Clark Pleasant School Corporation board meeting on Tuesday, Alaina’s mother, Victoria Dildine, called for the gym teacher to be fired, stating that the teacher failed to keep the kids safe.
“We come to you yet again to demand that the board fire [the P.E teacher] because she failed to uphold the job description posted for the P.E teacher,” Dildine said. “She failed to keep students safe. We see the personnel report naming her replacement, but we do not see her termination.”
“We see the school is moving her to somewhere in the district.”
Victoria released a statement last month after learning that no criminal charges could be filed against the teacher.
We would like to thank the Johnson County Sheriff’s Department and Prosecutor for thoroughly investigating the circumstances surrounding Alaina’s death. We are still in shock at the loss of Alaina, and we are trying our best not to feel angry…but it is hard. As we continue to mourn, we ask the school corporation to implement new swimming pool policies to keep all students safe so no other family has to experience such a profound loss.
FOX59/CBS4 has contacted Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation, who provided the following statement:
“At this time, we cannot make any further comments pertaining to this personnel issue in order to comply with confidentiality laws”
Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation
Officials said that law enforcement and emergency medical personnel were dispatched on a drowning report around 11:12 a.m. on May 16. Police said a student had been pulled from the pool around 11:11 a.m., and school employees started CPR.
Investigators said around 10:18 a.m., the female student went below the surface “under the bulkhead that separates the swimming lanes and the diving well” during the class. At 10:30 a.m., the class was dismissed and the student remained unnoticed.
Around 11:47 a.m., medical staff on the scene pronounced the student deceased.