WHITELAND, Ind. – A Whiteland Community High School student died Tuesday morning after she was doing laps with other students during PE class. A GoFundMe has been set up with the family’s permission. The 15-year-old who died was identified as Alaina Dildine. So far, the page raised more than $20,000.
“We grieve with this family as they endure the unimaginable,” Superintendent Dr. Patrick Spray said in a press conference on Wednesday. “Our entire school community and especially our school staff and students are heartbroken.”
The student was pulled from the pool at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday. Her exact cause of death won’t be known until a completed medical examination, but school officials referred to it as an “apparent drowning.” The Johnson County Coroner’s Office said an official cause would be determined in three weeks.
“Our understanding is that the student was in the pool during PE class swimming laps with the other students,” Spray continued. “When the student went under the water near the bulkhead that divides the pool, there was a lifeguard and an instructor on the pool deck.”
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office is leading the investigation, Sheriff Duane Burgess said Thursday.
“After speaking with the family as well as Clark Pleasant School Police and Administration, all parties agreed that it would be in the best interest of everyone involved for the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to take over the investigation into the death of the Whiteland High School student that occurred on May 16, at the natatorium,” Sheriff Burgess said. “Having an outside agency investigate a death of this nature will ensure complete transparency in the case and will allow the full resources of the Sheriff’s Office to be committed to the investigation.”
