A student brought a bag of pills to Whispering Pines Center in Miramar Wednesday morning, leading some students and staff members to feel nauseous and prompting police, hazmat and paramedics to respond, officials say.
As of Wednesday afternoon, officials said hazmat teams had not finished testing the pills but described them as “non-hazardous.”
Miramar Police responded to the school a little after 11 a.m. after a student brought a sealed bag of unbroken pills onto the campus, according to Janice McIntosh, a spokesperson for the police department. A School Resource Officer took the bag to a “safe location” away from students and staff so it could be examined.
Fire Rescue and the Broward Sheriff’s Office Hazmat team arrived after some staff members reported feeling nauseous, according to Tara Smith, a spokesperson for Miramar Fire Rescue.
Four adults and two students were evaluated by paramedics due to “mild symptoms of nausea,” Smith said. No one was taken to the hospital.
BSO’s hazmat unit is still conducting tests, but “at this time all of the initial tests run by BSO Hazmat do indicate that all of the substances are non-hazardous and there is no current existing threat to the student body at this time,” Smith said.
Miramar Police Chief Delrish Moss said it was unclear why six people reported symptoms given that the pills did not appear dangerous.
“We’re not sure why that was,” he said. “We’re not sure what the level of exposure was, but so far we found through preliminary testing that nothing was hazardous, so nothing should have caused those symptoms.”
The school was on a secure status Wednesday afternoon, according to Cathy Brennan, a school district spokeswoman. Officials were closing the scene about 1 p.m., and Smith it was unlikely the incident would affect dismissal. They did not say why the student brought the pills to school.
“The student responsible will receive appropriate consequences,” Brennan said.
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