WHITELAND, Ind. — The family of a 15-year-old student who drowned in a Whiteland Community High School pool has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the district, school and staff ignored repeated signs of negligence in the days leading up to the fatal drowning.
Alaina Dildine drowned in a swimming pool during a WCHS physical education class on May 16, 2023. According to previous reports, the coroner’s office ruled the death as accidental by seizure and drowning.
Kyle and Victoria Dildine filed a federal wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against the Clark Pleasant Community School Corporation, Whiteland Community High School and three school officials.
According to the suit, the P.E. teacher reportedly informed a school nurse on May 8 that Dildine had been “seeing blobs.” The nurse also allegedly witnessed Dildine experiencing a seizure later that same day. Alaina was diagnosed with epilepsy in June 2015 and was experiencing “frequent seizures, both at home and at school.”
Dildine’s mother reportedly expressed her concerns with Alaina’s P.E. teacher that she was being required to swim to receive full participation credit. This email was allegedly sent out on May 11, according to the suit. The suit details how the mother asked if there was any other way for Alaina to receive participation credit even on days when she was physically unable to participate.
Alaina’s mother allegedly sent a follow-up email to the P.E. teacher four days before her daughter drowned asking if there was any way for her to earn her participation credits without swimming. The class syllabus stipulated that “90 percent of a student’s grade will be based on participation, skills tests, and fitness tests.”
The suit said Alaina experienced frequent seizures on multiple occasions during the Spring 2023 semester, with multiple instances being documented in class, on the bus and one previous instance in P.E. class.
The P.E. teacher did not respond to any of the emails, according to the suit.
The suit also alleges that Whiteland Community High School did not provide any specific safety instructions for students, teachers or lifeguards to follow apart from its basic rules. The suit went on to state that no policies require that a lifeguard be on duty.
The suit cited Indiana law 6-2.1-35, which requires that a qualified lifeguard be on duty at all times when a public pool is in use. The suit alleged that the P.E. teacher was not
Alaina’s parents explained their reasons for filing the lawsuit, saying that it is their hope it will highlight the value behind school districts having policies to protect students who are engaging in activities in school pools.
“It has been nine months since our daughter died, and it just doesn’t seem to get any easier.
We understand that this lawsuit will not bring Alaina back. God, we wish it would! Instead,
we have two reasons for filing a lawsuit. First, we want to hold those who were responsible
for Alaina’s safety accountable,” Kyle and Victoria said in a statement. “Second, we want to bring attention to the importance of school districts across the country putting in place rules and policies to protect students in school pools, especially those most at risk like our daughter. If this tragedy could happen in a large school district like Clark-Pleasant, it could happen anywhere.”
Alaina’s mother called for the P.E. teacher to be fired at a school board meeting in August, stating that the teacher failed to keep students safe under their care.
The suit alleged that the P.E. teacher never carried out a head count after the class to ensure that all students exited the pool. Alaina was also meant to be close to the teacher at all times, per the plan Alaina’s family had arranged with the school.
Alaina was in the middle lane of the pool during the class, according to the suit.
The suit alleged that the lifeguard on duty was overseeing swimmers in a different lane and that their certification had expired for over two years.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office previously provided a timeline detailing the drowning incident.
Law enforcement officials were originally dispatched to the school around 11:12 a.m. on a report of a drowning. Alaina was soon retrieved from the pool around and school officials began performing CPR.
JCSO said in a release at the time that the female student went below the surface and “under the bulkhead that separates the swimming lanes and the diving well.” The sheriff’s office said Alaina remained unnoticed when class was dismissed at 10:30 a.m.
The report stated that a male student found Alaina below the surface of the swimming pool water around 11:10 a.m., nearly an hour after she initially went under. The police investigation concluded that Alaina went unnoticed for 52 minutes. However, the investigation found that no school officials were criminally liable.
Alaina was pronounced dead on the scene around 11:47 a.m.
Now in their lawsuit, Alaina’s parents are seeking monetary damages, medical, funeral and burial expenses as well as counseling and attorney fees.
Stephen Wagner, the lawyer representing the Dildine family, released the following statement:
“The lawsuit today was filed in federal court because the Dildine family strongly believes
what happened to their daughter was not simply the result of one person’s tragic mistake
or oversight, but was instead a violation of her civil rights resulting from multiple systemic
failures by the Clark-Pleasant Community School Corporation. How could a large, wellfunded school district require that a student with a history of seizures—including a seizure
in PE class just the week before—swim in a public pool with no lifeguard on duty? How
could school officials have no written safety rules, policies or procedures in place
whatsoever? While the Dildines are relieved the school district recently released a draft of
new pool safety procedures, they want to know why many of the recommended common
sense safety practices were not required before Alaina died. Complying with state law by
having a lifeguard on duty, assigning students a buddy while swimming, and counting the
students after they exit the pool should have been obvious to school officials. Instead, they
forced a student with seizures to get into a pool without a lifeguard, failed to watch her,
and then left her at the bottom of the pool for 53 minutes.”Dildine family lawyer Stephen Wagner
