I received this message today from my son's school:

May 19, 2014

Dear Tumwater Middle School Families of 8th grade students:

This letter is being sent to inform you about an incident that occurred this morning as students were being transported by bus on a field trip to Mt. St. Helens. Pepper spray was expelled on one of the buses. The driver had an allergic reaction, but was able to safely pull the bus to the side of the road. The bus driver was taken to the hospital and has since been released. Students on the bus were treated by paramedics and found to all be safe to continue with the trip. A new bus was sent to pick up the students.
There were three students believed to have been involved in the incident who were escorted back to Tumwater by the Washington State Patrol. The incident is under investigation.

We are very thankful that the students and staff were safe and able to continue. We are also grateful to our drivers and the Transportation Department staff for their quick reaction to the situation.

Thankfully, my son was not on the affected bus. He is learning a valuable lesson on how NOT to behave at a group outing such as this.

oy!!!!!!!!!!

That'll fuck someone's day up.

I guess pepper spray is the new stink bomb?

Bad for the kids, yes.
I still ask this question: When the po po use pecker spray at WTO, Mardi Grais, May Day, Marine3%er birthday parties, no one goes to the hospital?
Just asking.

Lucky the driver didn't crash the damn bus. Those little shits better be doing some serious community service for their little stunt.

Sometimes they do.

If a student requires medical treatment--even if it's just an evaluation like this--isn't there a requirement that they let the parents know right away? I'm sure the parents signed some sort of waiver for their kid to take part in the field trip but I would think they'd do more than just send a note home with any student that received medical attention. I have no idea how it works, I'm just asking the question. If it was my kid on that particular bus, I think I'd want a phone call pretty quickly afterward letting me know what had happened.

And yeah, if the spray was set off intentionally, hopefully those kids are learning that's not such a great idea.

The message I received was an automated email alert. I suspect that if my son was injured I would have received a call. They are damn lucky that driver was able to hold it together long enough to stop the bus. Kudos to that driver!

Here in WA 14 years old can have pepper spray with parental permission. When I was in Cuba (gitmo), it took very high level permission to use pepper spray since the military considered it a chemical agent, but we could bust open a skull with a big ass baton if needed.

Edit: Deleted statement they can't carry, found out they can. River Ridge HS at least.

Tumwater High School is full of fucking idiots... My daughter's soda got spiked with fucking ecstasy a little while ago while IN CLASS..... Needless to say that I would love to get my hands around the fuckers throat that did it, but there is no proof as of yet, because the rest of the chicken shits in the class won't come forward....

That sucks for sure, but this incident was even younger kids, 8th graders at Tumwater Middle School. Not even high school yet.
My son reported that this happened on the third bus in the caravan. The two buses in front of it were not aware that there was a problem until they were a long distance down the road (miles). The other two buses were stopped and the drivers were questioned by paramedics and WSP, before being allowed to continue. By the time the replacement bus got the students from the third bus to Mount Saint Helens for the day's events, it was more than half over. They essentially got cheated out of their field trip. The two hour ride, each way, in the bouncy bus with steal seats was a killer. My son said that he had a bad case of "Trucker's Butt" when he got off the bus.

Is there a RCW on that? I'd been wondering about school district policies.

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.91.160

RCW 9.91.160
Personal protection spray devices.

(1) It is unlawful for a person under eighteen years old, unless the person is at least fourteen years old and has the permission of a parent or guardian to do so, to purchase or possess a personal protection spray device. A violation of this subsection is a misdemeanor.

(2) No town, city, county, special purpose district, quasi-municipal corporation or other unit of government may prohibit a person eighteen years old or older, or a person fourteen years old or older who has the permission of a parent or guardian to do so, from purchasing or possessing a personal protection spray device or from using such a device in a manner consistent with the authorized use of force under RCW 9A.16.020. No town, city, county, special purpose district, quasi-municipal corporation, or other unit of government may prohibit a person eighteen years old or older from delivering a personal protection spray device to a person authorized to possess such a device.

It's frikin amazing what you can find with this little known web site called "Google".

As far as schools go, I just got off the phone with the VP at River Ridge HS (Lacey, my son goes there) since it is not addressed specifically in the student handbook. He said as long as it is in the pocket/purse, and not being "played with" he has no issue with it. Obviously the kid on the bus played with it, and sprayed it.

Not all schools freak out like the ones we hear about, with the gun shaped pop tarts.

River Ridge handbook:
http://www.nthurston.k12.wa.us/cms/lib/ ... _FINAL.pdf

OK, who farted???? Ahhh Mexican food last night?