WASHINGTON — Ten students and two staff members at Seneca Valley High School in Germantown, Maryland, were sent to the hospital after a strong smell of pepper spray forced a brief evacuation of the school Monday.

School Principal Marc Cohen told WTOP the school, at 19401 Crystal Rock Drive in Germantown, was evacuated late Monday morning after the odor was noticed in the school’s math wing near a girl’s restroom.

The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service responded to the school, identified the odor as probable pepper spray and cleaned the walls before students and staff returned to the building, Cohen said.

About 1,300 students attend the International Baccalaureate high school.