Principal Reacts to 'Pepper Spray' Incident at McLane Middle School

McLane Middle School Principal Frank Oliver met the press outside his school May 3 to discuss the aftermath of a pepper spray incident that caused the evacuation of one floor and the late dismissal of about 900 students.

Coming on the heels of the FCAT testing season, "kids had a lot of pent-up energy, they were eager to get loose," Oliver said. "I'm just very disappointed about all this commotion, all these things that have happened today."

Reportedly before 3 p.m., a 12-year-old student released into a first-floor school hallway a chemical attack-repellent spray believed to be pepper spray or mace. School and law enforcement officials said 93 people were affected, including three teachers. Thirty-seven were transported to Brandon Regional Hospital, with what were described as "very minor injuries."

• See 12-Year-Old Questioned in McLane 'Pepper Spray' Incident

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reported later in the evening May 3 that a "12-year-old female was taken into custody on a misdemeanor charge of disruption of school function." The student was transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center where she was to be released to a parent. The report notes as well that "all of the individuals [who] were transported to the hospital have been treated and released."

The building in which the incident occurred serves sixth-grade students and was evacuated for a short period of time after the incident, which occurred shortly before 3 p.m.

Staff kicked in to notify parents, Oliver said. Individual calls were placed. Also, the automoated Parent Link was used to get the word out to the parents of all "920-something students we have here," he added.

"A lot of parents came over to pick up their children, a lot of parents came over to see if their children were okay," Oliver said. "It took awhile to get the students dismissed, I think the buses left about 40 minutes late today."

Asked is he knew the 12-year-old student being questioned, Oliver said: "I try to get to know all of my students and I do know this student." As for whether the suspect had been in trouble before, Oliver said: "I can't answer that."

He did, however, talk in more general terms about the incident itself, and the mindset of the perpetrator in particular.

"I think it’s a reflection of society, things that go on. Kids don’t take things as seriously as they should and things like this happen," Oliver said. "I'm sure that person, whoever did this, didn’t know that this was going to happen, that the buses were going to be late, everybody was going to be out here. We have helicopters flying across the school, I'm sure they didn’t expect that. I think they were caught totally by surprise, as we were."

As for the overall student body, Oliver said: "We've got some good students here. We talked to them over the intercom, told them basically what happened, and a lot of them came to me and gave me some names to look at and that's what we're doing right now."

A television reporter asked, "Did you have to give out hugs today?

"Yes," Oliver said. "I give out hugs every day."