On the first day of school, September 10th, 2024, an unexpected incident occurred nearing the end of second period. Around 10:30 AM, a publicly unidentified student walked into a classroom and sprayed a noxious substance in the face of a targeted student and consequently also impacting those in the vicinity. The class was evacuated and the school administration was alerted.
The office quickly responded by announcing a lockdown, calling emergency personnel, and beginning a search to determine if the culprit was still in the school, and if this was an isolated incident. The lockdown was lifted and a hold-and-secure was initiated around 11:10 AM. The hold-and-secure ended around 11:20, as an evacuation was called in order to let out the noxious gas. Once the emergency personnel at the scene declared the building safe for re-entry, the evacuation notice was lifted.
A student affected by the incident described it as such, “It was really painful … Everyone was coughing. I couldn’t breathe, or see, or anything. I was just choking and I started screaming because my eyes.” he added, “and rubbing it makes it worse, but it’s like a self reflex to like rub it, because you can’t do anything about the pain.” Fortunately, although the short term effects were very painful for the 6 students who were heavily impacted by the attack, there were no serious injuries resulting from the incident.
Despite the incident, North Park continues to be a safe school for everyone. As Principal Boutros said, “Violence has no place at North Park. We do also acknowledge that as humans there will be mistakes that are made. Rest assured that the first day of school was an isolated incident where somebody’s decision-making led to that event. It is taken care of and that is why we have very strict code of conduct rules and expectations that apply to everybody that enters our space. And based on the progressive discipline model, appropriate consequences were taken for the individuals that were involved.”
She added, “I also want to reiterate that North Park is a safe, vibrant, and happy community. When interviewing students the majority of students feel that they belong and they feel safe walking down these halls. When I have conversations with students I tell them to ask me how I know they come to the best school, and I reply back because as a personal graduate from North Park Secondary School, I can tell that it’s always been a great community. And the reason for that is because of the people that walk down the halls every single day.”
THE NORTH STAR 