Teachers Pepper Spray High School Students With Permission From Their Parents

A viral video of students at an Ohio high school has many viewers furious, and they're wondering how the incident could even be legal. The video shows a teacher spraying a line of students, one at a time, with pepper spray.

As the students wail in agony, some other teachers around can be heard laughing. According to the school, it was a voluntary experiment done for extra credit, and students needed a permission slip to take part.

There were 14 students at Barberton High School who took part in the experiment. They were all enrolled in a Criminal Science Technology class and it was part of a voluntary class training exercise.

The students who wanted to get credit for a law and public safety curriculum were given the opportunity to partake in the experiment, with parental permission

“Students had an opportunity to voluntarily participate in an activity in which they would be subjected to a small amount of pepper spray for a brief period of time. The activity was conducted by the class instructor, who is a former police chief, and an experienced professional,” said Barberton City Schools Superintendent Patricia Cleary to People Magazine.

The video shows the students lined up against a brick wall. They were given the option of being swabbed or getting a 'quick burst' of the chemical in the face.

The consent form for parents explains that children would suffer from 'irritation and a burning sensation' in their eyes and nasal passage for up to an hour after getting sprayed.

The instructor walks from one student to the next and tells them, “Stop resisting please comply.”

The instructor then sprays a small amount of pepper spray in each student's eyes one by one. Students begin screaming and writhing in agony. Clearly, even the 'small amount' was much more than they bargained for with this assignment.

"I need to go! I need to go I need to go!" one student in severe pain screams, and she's escorted away for help. Others stand there suffering through the painful process.

“Added supervision was provided by the school’s resource officer. Students were required to have parental permission and consent in order to participate in the voluntary exercise.

The intent of the training is to help the students gain an industry-recognized credential in the law and public safety course curriculum that is offered by the Ohio Department of Education," said Cleary.

Some are calling the students ‘dedicated’, while others are calling the instructors ‘abusive’ and question how something like this can be a requirement for any course, let alone one taught to minors in a high school.

Pepper spray is made from cayenne pepper and other varieties of hot peppers. “Contact with OC particles in a sprayed mist incapacitates subjects by inducing an almost immediate burning sensation of the skin, but more important, a burning and swelling of the eyes,” reads a report by the National Institute of Justice.

Source: People
Photos: People, The Barberton Herald/Facebook, Michael Heim/123RF Stock Photo