A 17-year-old Atascadero High School junior died Wednesday after being found unresponsive and unconscious in the campus swimming pool.

Atascadero Police Department personnel responded to a call from AHS at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday after John Erlanson reportedly collapsed and was found unresponsive by classmates and school personnel in the pool area at the High School Hill campus, Lt. Brian Dana said.

Paramedics were immediately contacted and school personnel began administering CPR until police arrived and continued to administer CPR. Paramedics treated the student at the scene before he was transported by ambulance to Twin Cities Community Hospital at approximately 10:45 a.m.

When police units first arrived at the scene at AHS, Erlanson had already been removed from the pool, Dana said. Atascadero Unified School District Superintendent John Rogers said district staff went with the student to the hospital and the district continued to seek information about the student’s condition and the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Rogers said the district was informed less than two hours later by the APD that Erlanson had died at the hospital at 12:15 p.m.

Dana said any further inquiries about the incident were being referred to the school district because the APD had determined that the death was accidental and not criminal in nature.

An autopsy was performed Wednesday and the cause of death was determined to be death by drowning. The results of a toxicology screen are expected in two weeks, said San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Rob Bryn.

Rogers said Erlansons have requested that they be allowed to deal with the loss of their son privately and that the district and the community respect their wishes for privacy at this time.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the family,” he said. “It’s a tragedy for the family and for the district. Our hearts go out to the family.”

Rogers said the district will continue to cooperate with any further investigation of the incident and added that the district has been conducting interviews with all those who were present at the time of the incident to obtain as much information as possible. He said he does not yet know all the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Shortly after Wednesday’s incident, AHS principal Kimberley Spinks, AUSD Assistant Superintendent Kathy Hannemann and other district personnel met with a small group of students near the AHS Pool to provide immediate support for the students who seemed visibly shaken by the incident involving their classmate.

At that time, Spinks sent out a campus-wide e-mail to teachers and staff alerting them that their students might be upset upon hearing about the incident. Spinks also told news media at the scene that she was on her way to TCCH, where the student was being treated, in order to determine the extent of his injuries and to ascertain what had happened at the campus.

Counselors from surrounding schools and from Hospice were providing additional assistance for students who were dealing with grief issues on Wednesday in the AHS library, and Rogers and Spinks met with students throughout the day on Thursday. The counselors will remain on campus as long as there is a demonstrated need among students for counseling, Rogers said.

On Thursday, community members who knew Erlanson expressed their grief at his passing. San Gabriel Road Elementary School teacher Melinda Reaney, who taught Erlanson in the first grade, expressed sadness at the death of her former student. Erlanson’s three siblings also attended SGES.

“Our staff is deeply shaken by the loss of his life,” she said. “His family is the most gentle, kind and caring family and we are just devastated.”

Erlanson’s friends and classmates at AHS left bouquets of flowers and posters filled with expressions of their love as a memorial for their fellow student near the gate to the campus pool.

Students Ashley and Becca Inman and Melissa Damerow created posters that enabled their fellow classmates to share their thoughts and remembrances to honor their schoolmate.

“We love you, John,” Ashley wrote.

Other students wrote only their first name or shared their remembrances anonymously. Students wrote, “Thanks for being so nice and quiet. I liked sitting by you in class” and “John, you were the nicest kid I ever knew.”

Fellow student Adam Mink wrote, “I guess I really miss you, bro, and your vegetarian beef jerky and may you fight on for the greater good. Peace. See you soon.”

Student Dylan Jackson wrote, “Captain Mexico John. Thank you. You were a great person to have known seriously.”

Some sentiments were written in the form of a poem, “Good morning, good day, good evening, good night. I’ll miss you” or a simple observation of daily school life, “You were really cool to hang with. We’re going to miss you deeply.”

A fellow schoolmate was brief in her sentiments about Erlanson but seemed to sum up the tone of the memorial, writing simply, “I miss you already.”