STUDENT'S PEPPER SPRAY SICKENS CLASSMATES

February 24, 1998

By Compiled from reports by staff writers Victoria Benning, Sylvia Moreno, Amy Klein, Annie Gowen, Jay Mathews and Karlyn Barker and the Associated Press.

Eighteen Fairfax County seventh-graders were taken to hospitals yesterday after a canister of pepper spray was accidentally discharged in their classroom, school officials said.

Officials said the canister fell out of a student's backpack in a trailer classroom at Franklin Middle School about 10:30 a.m. and discharged when another student picked it up. The teacher and 22 students then evacuated the room, and those complaining of burning eyes or throats were taken to Inova Fair Oaks and Reston hospitals. All the students were released later, and no one was seriously injured, officials said.

School rules forbid students from carrying pepper spray on school property, and the girl who brought the canister to school will receive a five-day suspension, officials said. They said the girl, whom they declined to identify, apparently was carrying the spray for her personal safety.