Two teachers, a counselor and the assistant principal at Goldblatt Elementary School have been ordered to stay home with pay pending an investigation into the drowning death of a 14-year-old boy during a field trip they were chaperoning.
Tuesday’s announcement came as Ohio prosecutors considered whether to file charges in the death of Derrick Spencer, who drowned in water other pupils said was so murky that chaperons used a pole to feel the bottom of the pool in an effort to find him.
Spencer, who did not know how to swim, was one of 23 pupils and five chaperons who traveled to the Cincinnati area last week to visit Kings Island amusement park for an end-of-the-year field trip. The fifth chaperon was a friend of one of the adults.
Although authorities refused to talk Tuesday about the events that led to the death in the pool, youngsters who were present have offered glimpses as to why it took so long to discover the boy’s body.
The 8th graders arrived late Friday at the Quality Inn-Cincinnati Hotel in Evendale and went to the indoor pool area to eat pizza and swim. The pool had been closed but was reopened for the group.
With eight pupils in the pool and at least that many more milling around the pizza in an adjoining area, it was loud, the pupils said. The rest of the children headed to their rooms with at least one chaperon along, they said.
Spencer was pushed in while roughhousing, according to family members.
Shada Splunge, 13, who was in the water at the time, said she felt a big splash in the 9-foot-deep area. When she got out, she said, she was told Spencer had made the splash.
But in the general commotion it wasn’t clear where Spencer was, she and others said.
When they realized Spencer wasn’t around, some of the pupils and chaperons started searching the hotel while others tried peering in the murky water, the girl said.
“The chaperons were moving a pole around the pool” in an effort to feel him, she said.
School officials said the party determined Spencer was missing about 11:40 p.m. Someone from the hotel’s front desk called police at 12:20 a.m. Saturday, authorities said.
Police arrived about 10 minutes later, when a chaperon, who had pulled Spencer out of the water, was attempting CPR, authorities said. It is unclear how his body was discovered.
On Tuesday, police turned over information, including a video from a security camera at the pool, to Hamilton County, Ohio, prosecutors who will consider whether to file charges.
Neither police nor prosecutors would comment Tuesday. Owners of the Quality Inn Evendale issued a statement saying they are “deeply saddened” by Spencer’s death and referred questions to authorities.
Chicago Public Schools is investigating whether policies were followed, , spokeswoman Joi Mecks said.
School district policy requires a certified lifeguard or water-safety instructor, along with an adult supervisor, to be present at all swimming-related student activities. Pupils interviewed said there was at least one chaperon by the pool but no lifeguard.
If the pool was murky or chaperones weren’t watching, said Spencer’s aunt, Layshonne Harper, “it was very irresponsible.”
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