Sixteen grammar school students were taken to hospitals after pepper spray was released in a South Side classroom in the Oakland neighborhood on Thursday morning, authorities said.



A small canister discharged about 8:45 a.m. in a classroom with about 30 students at the University of Chicago Charter School's Donoghue Campus, at 707 E. 37th St., said Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.



As of 9:20 a.m., about a dozen students were being checked out for irritated skin and runny eyes. There were no apparent serious injuries, but 16 were taken to hospitals in good condition, Langford said.