MISSOURI CITY, Texas – The Fort Bend Independent School District says it is still trying to figure out who set off pepper spray at Quail Valley Middle School late Wednesday morning.
The school was evacuated after the pepper spray fumes traveled from a classroom to other areas of the school, administrators said.
Two students were transported to the hospital and others reported feeling sick.
“I was in the classroom with Ms. Tyler and someone sprayed pepper spray,” one student said. "It got in all the kids’ eyes. And people couldn’t breathe, they had headaches, their throats were hot, they felt like fire was in their throat."
Parents who received alerts and watched students loaded onto stretchers on TV rushed to the campus to check on their kids.
“It is crazy with all that’s been going on, that you hear on the news every day,” said Deandra Washington, the mother of an eighth grader. "I figure that just some kid wanted to disrupt the learning environment, have the law come out and do what they did. But I don’t know, there’s just so much going on these days.”
Students told KHOU 11 they spent the remainder of the day in the commons area.
The school district sent a note to parents telling them the responsible student will be disciplined once he/she is identified.
This is the note to students:
Dear Quail Valley Middle School Parents and Guardians,
I am writing to update you about the incident at QVMS today. The Missouri City Fire Department has given us the all clear, and all students and staff are returning to the building at this time. We will be operating under a normal, modified schedule, however, students will not be returning to the affected classroom.
We are working with the FBISD Police Department to identify the student who deployed the pepper spray. Please be assured that once our investigation is complete, appropriate disciplinary action will follow.
Again, I would like to commend our students and staff on their behavior during the incident. We were able to move promptly because of their organization and response, in accordance with our regular drills. The events of the last few weeks have continued to show the importance of these drills, and I truly appreciate the way our students and staff work together to ensure the safety of our campus.
We are thankful that EMS and the fire department responded quickly today. As a precaution, two students were transported to area hospitals.