DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997              TAG: 9704090437

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON  and CINDY CLAYTON, STAFF WRITERS 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   66 lines

NORVIEW EVACUATED AFTER SPRAY SCARE STUDENT DISCHARGED MACE-LIKE SPRAY; FOUR HOSPITALIZED.

Norview High School was evacuated Tuesday morning, and four people, including the school's principal, were taken to a hospital after a 16-year-old student discharged a vial of defense spray in a hallway, a fire official said.

The substance, called Capstun, is similar to Mace, said Jack Goldhorn, spokesman for Fire and Paramedical Services. Goldhorn said the boy apparently discharged the spray near a bathroom on the third floor of the school because he wanted to find out what it smelled like. The spray caused those who inhaled it to vomit, cough or suffer irritated throats, Goldhorn said.

The boy who discharged the spray, whose name was not released because he is a juvenile, will not be criminally prosecuted because he did not intend to harm anyone, Goldhorn said. School officials said they questioned the 10th-grade student, who admitted spraying the substance.

``In this case, the principal is going to recommend to (the School Board) that the student be expelled,'' said George Raiss, spokesman for Norfolk Public Schools.

Mace, pepper spray and related substances are banned on school campuses, Raiss said.

School principal Marjorie L. Stealey, assistant principal David Hayes, teacher Joe Steinberg and a 15-year-old girl were treated and released from Sentara Norfolk General Hospital after suffering from shortness of breath and irritation of the nose and throat. Four other people were treated at the scene by paramedics.

The victims had their eyes and noses rinsed out, said Dr. Charles Graffeo, an emergency room physician at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.

Fire officials got the call from the school about 9:15 a.m. When they arrived, they used a special ventilator to air out the school while students and teachers stood outside.

Students said the fire alarms rang at the same time as a bell signaling the change of classes, causing confusion. Students and teachers were evacuated to the front lawn of the school, then were moved to the bus ramp and later the football stadium.

Sophomore Janet Fenner, 17, was on the first floor when the bells rang. She said she smelled ``something like burning rubber.'' Sophomore Deangelo Clark, also 17, was on the third floor at the time but said he smelled nothing.

By 10:45 a.m., students were back in class.

Meanwhile, concerned parents were phoning the school's main office and several came to school to take their children home, worried that harmful fumes lingered. At a nearby neighborhood, word traveled quickly among parents. Five came together to take their children out of school for the day, despite assurances from school and fire officials that the building was safe.

``My concern is my son's health,'' said Marie Lilly after having her son paged to come to the main office. ``He has a heart murmur. I've already lost one child (who died in 1985), and I just want to get my child.''

Other parents were more critical of the decision to keep the children in school.

``They should have sent them all home,'' said Cheryl Williams, who came to get her son, who she says has asthma, to take him to the emergency room.

MEMO: Staff writer Tony Wharton contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

Parents gather outside Norview High School on Tuesday morning. Some

felt their children should have been sent home for the day. KEYWORDS: MORVIEW HIGH SCHOOL

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu