Students have placed signs and flowers outside the Atascadero High School pool, where John Erlanson, 17, may have had a seizure.
Atascadero High School junior John Erlanson was playing a game of bucket ball in the shallow end of the school’s swimming pool with the rest of his physical education class around 10:30 a. m. Wednesday when something went terribly wrong.
Moments later the Atascadero Police Department received a 911 call saying someone was in the pool and not breathing. Erlanson, 17, died shortly after being taken to Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton.
School administrators are still not sure what happened or how Erlanson was able to slip under the water unnoticed.
Classmates, who are being individually interviewed by school staff, said Thursday that they thought Erlanson might have had a seizure, administrators said.
“We are being told by kids in the class that they think he may have had a seizure, but there is no way of confirming that,” said Assistant Principal Karen Donaghe, adding that details from students’ recounting of the incident are still unclear.
“Some said they don’t think he was underwater very long, like 20 to 30 seconds,” Donaghe said.
Students noticed Erlanson unconscious at the bottom of the pool and pulled him from the water. They called 911 while school staff members administered CPR until medical aid arrived, Donaghe said.
Tribune reporters talked to students the day of the drowning who said they thought the P. E. teacher was distracted from watching the swimmers in the pool.
Donaghe said there had been an argument between two students but that the teacher kept the swimmers in her sight at all times.
Lifeguards are not required to be on duty during such classes, she said. Donaghe said as many as 30 students were in the class, but it was unclear how many were in the pool.
An autopsy determined Erlanson drowned. Results from a toxicology report are expected in two to three weeks, said Rob Bryn, spokesman for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coroner’s Department.
Donaghe said it was Erlanson’s first day in the pool with his class after not participating for medical reasons but that he knew how to swim and had family permission to do so. School officials by law cannot release details about students’ medical conditions.
The Tribune has been unable to reach members of Erlanson’s family.
Authorities said Thursday that the coroner’s investigation will try to determine whether a medical condition contributed to the teen’s death.
A support net
Meanwhile, Superintendent John Rogers said, “The focus of our district is first to provide support to all students and staff that need it by putting a net under all students that are feeling a sense of loss from the circumstances surrounding their classmate.”
School counselors, psychologists and hospice workers remained on campus throughout the day to talk with students.
“We will continue to offer those services as long as there is a demonstrated need,” Rogers said.
Atascadero High School Principal Kim Spinks and Assistant Principal E. J. Rossi spent most of Thursday interviewing students and staff who witnessed the accident.
Rogers said the district will compile a detailed report once the investigation is complete.
‘Just devastated’
On campus Thursday, students placed flowers near the pool’s fence and hung handmade signs in remembrance of their classmate.
“God loves you and your family. You’re in all our hearts,” wrote one student.
Students and staff described Erlanson as engaging, quirky and always helpful.
“Everyone is saying what a great kid he was,” said Atascadero Junior High School Principal Kirk Smith. “He was kind of a quiet guy, and everyone seemed to like him. People are just devastated.”
Adam Weatherby, youth pastor at the nearby Atascadero Bible Church, helped counsel students on campus Wednesday and met with students at the church that night.
“A lot of students have started to ask why something like this can happen and why God would allow it,” he said. “I tell them to live their lives to the fullest, because we just don’t know what day will be our last.”
Tribune staff writer Leah Etling contributed to this report.
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