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This story was corrected on June 2, 2009

A sophomore at Watkins Mill High School was pepper-sprayed and arrested Friday morning after he allegedly shoved a police officer who was telling him to report for in-school suspension at the Gaithersburg school, according to the principal.

The incident occurred at about 7:20 a.m. in the cafeteria in front of more than 50 students, said Kevin Hobbs, principal of the 1,800-student school.

The student, who is not being named because he is a minor, was supposed to serve in-school suspension Friday for an earlier incident, Hobbs said. When the student arrived at school, he refused to report for his suspension. Several school staff approached the student, but he walked toward the cafeteria. Hobbs, who said he talks to the student almost every day, also approached the student and asked him to report for in-school suspension.

"He's like, ‘Hell no,' ranting and raving, ‘I'm not going to go,'" Hobbs said.

Montgomery County Police Officer Stacy Flynn, the school's Educational Facilities Officer, or EFO, heard the chatter over her walkie-talkie and responded to the scene.

In walking past her, the student "pushed her out of the way," Hobbs said, and the EFO used her pepper spray, then put the student into handcuffs.

"Unfortunately, she had to stop him that way, but he had multiple opportunities to stop it other ways," Hobbs said. "I think he came in today knowing that he wasn't going to comply."

The student was taken to the health room, where school staff washed the spray from his eyes. An ambulance came as "protocol," Hobbs said. Hobbs said he talked to the student before he was taken to the police station.

"I told him, ‘You and I talk almost every day; if you were upset, why didn't you come to me first?'" Hobbs said. "He said ‘I wish I had.' He just lost it."

Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said she did not know what charges were brought against the student. Hobbs said he was suspended for 10 days and has been recommended for expulsion.

As the sophomore was put into custody, about 10 of the more than 50 students in the cafeteria were being "vocal and being inappropriate," Hobbs said. School staff told the students to go to class, but four of them refused to comply, including one who "was pretty adamant, to the point where he really was a distraction," Hobbs said.

"They only saw the last 30 seconds. They didn't see everything that led up to it," Hobbs said.

That student has been suspended for 10 days and went home with a parent at about noon. Hobbs talked with the other three students in his office.

There are 27 EFOs assigned to the county's 25 high schools. They follow the same guidelines as other county officers. The police department does not separately track how many times an EFO uses force or pepper spray, said Officer Megan Duffey, a police spokeswoman.

All county officers are given the spray, Duffey said, which is a 5 percent solution of "oleoresin capsicum," an extract of chili peppers. Montgomery County Public Schools security staff do not carry pepper spray, according to a school system spokesman.

"Typically it's used for out-of-control fights or disorderly subjects," Duffey said. "… We have to take into account how escalated the situation has become and if we're unable to calm the suspect down or gain control of the situation. It's basically the officer's judgment to try and deescalate the situation."