Friday, Sept. 6, 2002 | 10:51 a.m.
Clark County School District Police will try to determine if a student is responsible for releasing an irritant that caused 24 people at Clark High School to become sick and caused the campus to close Thursday.
Superintendent Carlos Garcia said he was confident that the person responsible would be found.
"We deal with these types of things very strictly, and we have zero tolerance for them," Garcia said. "Usually kids are pretty good at telling each other what they did -- they have 'tele-mouth' communication.
"We're hoping to get to the bottom of this."
At about 10 a.m. Thursday, the 2,500-student school was evacuated after 23 students began coughing and complaining of feeling sick. The Las Vegas Fire Department responded, but found no trace of any harmful substance in the school on Pennwood Avenue at Arville Street.
"If there is a lethal gas present our hazardous materials equipment will pick it up," Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. "If it's an irritant, then we usually don't pick up anything because it dissipates within minutes.
"Irritants make your day bad, especially if you have asthma or breathing difficulties."
Because there was no trace of a foreign substance at the school, fire officials believe the substance was probably pepper spray or Mace, both of which are irritants that dissipate rapidly.
Three students, two 15-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl, were taken to University Medical Center, where they were treated for breathing difficulty and released.
After the department's hazardous materials unit found nothing dangerous inside the school, district officials made the decision to close the school for the rest of the day, with students being released about noon. Buses were pulled from other schools to help get the students home.
The building was to be aired out Thursday, and school was back in session this morning. A Thursday night football game scheduled at Clark was played.
The evacuation was scary for many parents who arrived at the school after learning that something had happened.
Gail Louviere was at work when she got a call from her 16-year-old daughter, Jennifer Mustard.
"She was just sobbing, telling me that she was scared," Louviere said. "She said there were men in nuclear suits, and that she just wanted to go home."
Once students were dismissed, Louviere quickly found her daughter, who said she was more confused than anything else.
"We thought it was a fire drill, so we went outside, but then we started seeing all these guys in white suits everywhere and we didn't know what to do," Mustard said.
The department's hazardous materials team wore protective suits, complete with air supplies, as they entered the building.
Outside, most of the students seemed to be having a good time as they walked to the football field. Many waved and cheered fire engines as they drove by, while others yelled or feigned choking. The school's ROTC unit calmly marched in unison toward the football field, while other students had to be herded by teachers.
"The staff and the kids did great jobs, and did just what we'd want them to do in a situation like this," Garcia said. "The kids went to the stadium, listened and did what we asked."
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