‘Secret prom’ involving hundreds of Mayfield High students causes LCPS to resume remote learning

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A "secret prom" has triggered a return to remote learning in Las Cruces, school officials announced Thursday night.

According to a complaint filed with Las Cruces Public Schools, hundreds of Mayfield High School students reportedly attended an unauthorized prom last weekend.

To prevent any potential spread of Covid-19, the entire high school will switch from in-person classes to remote learning for the next ten days while LCPS investigates.

Interim LCPS Superintendent Ralph Ramos told ABC-7 that officials don't know the location where the event took place, but photos of the secret prom show anywhere from 500 to up to 1,000 people in attendance. Officials also suspect there may have been students from schools other than just Mayfield who attended.

He said this kind of gathering could impact other events, such as whether to allow parents to watch their kids play sports indoors - or whether to hold indoor graduation ceremonies.

"I was extremely disappointed. Obviously there's people that organized this. There definitely were adults also involved and that's just not the leadership that we condone. But on the other hand, I hope that this is just a lesson that we can learn from," Ramos said.

Ramos said a major reason for his disappointment is because school leadership and faculty all worked hard to get students back on campus.