An unidentified white powder was found inside a high school in Montgomery County on Tuesday, and five employees who were exposed to it were taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The substance was found at John F. Kennedy High School in a plastic bag inside a student's backpack, sources told News4.
Montgomery County police are working to identify the substance. It is not believed to be fentanyl, the drug that can be deadly in minuscule amounts.
One student said shouting could be heard in the school.
"Someone started screaming, 'Oh my God. There's drugs! There's drugs!'" she said.
School employees were searching a teen boy in a conference room about 11 a.m. when they discovered a bag full of the substance, sources said. Some of it spilled out. Then, the staffers started to feel sick.
Medics went to the school on the 1900 block of Randolph Road in Silver Spring and took five employees to a hospital as a precaution.
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"Right now we're hearing about dizziness, a bit of discomfort," Montgomery County Public Schools spokesman Derek Turner said. "We're waiting to hear more details."
The school district did not release information immediately on why staffers were searching the student. Neither his name nor his age were released.