The Dragon Scale
The Pepper Spray Incident Wednesday, March 31, 2010 By Kaitlin G
On Friday February 26, at about 9:30 a.m, there was a can of pepper spray that was released. At the end of first period some of the students and teachers felt that they had watery eyes, and/or an irritated throat, and some of them were coughing. Greg Schlosberg, who helped coordinate the response, shortly after called the fire department and they came over to see what had happened. The firemen made everybody go downstairs to the boardroom and then they moved students and teachers into the Kelly Theater, where they were told to stay calm so that the fire department could do their work. The students and teachers were in the theater for about an hour and a half. A firemen asked students and teachers if anyone felt that they were affected. It turned out that there were 29 students and some teachers that felt that they had inhaled the spray. After a while, an ambulance bus came to the school. The 29 students and one of the teachers were taken to the hospital as a precaution; the symptoms were watery eyes, the irritated throat, and coughing. At about 10:45 , everybody was allowed to go back upstairs to the high school floor. At 11:30 it was lunch time. No one was allowed to leave the high school floor during this time. For lunch, some of the teachers ordered pizza for everyone. During fifth period the students finished eating their pizza and then were allowed to leave the high school floor. After that it was a normal school day for everybody. The lower school and Junior High were not affected. There was also no contact between them and the high school. For the lower school and Junior High it was a regular school day. At the end of the school day many of the students that were sent to the hospital came back to school. Later that day the incident was on the news. WTOP reported that two students, a 15 year old girl and a 17 year old boy, were in serious condition; this was not the case. The Examiner reported that the police were at the school before the incident to investigate an assault; this was also incorrect. Later on that day WTOP and The Examiner corrected the errors on their website. The only fact the school does not know is where the pepper spray came from. The faculty, the fire department, and the police appreciated all the students because they were calm and listened to all the instructions that were said during the day. |