According to the letter, two families were then involved in a verbal altercation outside and one person “displayed a knife.”

Omaha police and school staff continued to de-escalate the situation and, in the response, an officer “deployed pepper spray,” the letter says.

1. Pepper spray is not tear gas.
2. If this is accurate, it’s hard to see why the pepper spray would be a bad thing here.

Edit: Okay, you got me. Pepper spray is in a chemical sense classified as a form of tear gas. Picture “police tear-gas middle school” and tell me whether the picture in your mind agrees with what’s described in the article. The purpose to communication can either be accuracy, or to paint a picture that best promotes the biases of the speaker. Which one do you think “police tear-gas middle school” falls into?