Montgomery County Public Schools is setting the record tonight about initial statements that “pepper balls” were fired at a large group of students who were fighting after last Friday night’s football game at James Hubert Blake High School.
It comes as a number of school systems around the area tighten security at football games.
“As we understand it, police used what is called a pepper ball device, but they didn’t actually fire pepper balls from the device,” said MCPS spokesperson Chris Cram. “They used it to make a sound — what they’re calling ‘air pops,’ and that actually was effective in breaking up that crowd.”
The incident allegedly involved students from three schools — the two schools playing and students from Paint Branch High School Principals from all three schools sent out a letter strongly condemning the incident, noting, “We will be reviewing our own processes — particularly checking student ID at entry — to ensure that we are consistently following our safety plan and preventing unauthorized attendance that could lead to incidents like this.”
Cram said the Fall athletics safety plan remains at its lowest alert level, known as Tier One. The hope is not to have to elevate to Tier Two.
“What that looks like moving onto Tier Two, it restricts the attendance of the game to just those at the host game school, so again, if you’re hosting another team, the only ones allowed in the stand at Tier Two would be those students and families from that school,” Cram said.
The third tier of the school system’s security plan contains a provision that would not allow any spectators at games.