School district right to switch its tune over ‘secret prom’

It was reminiscent of the 1984 Kevin Bacon classic film, “Footloose,” in which town rules and a strict preacher originally prohibited kids from having a high school dance.

Last week, Las Cruces Public Schools District abruptly halted in-person classes at one of its high schools and threatened students with disciplinary actions following a reported “secret prom.”

Mayfield High School reverted to remote learning April 16 after a complaint was filed with the Governor’s Office alleging hundreds of students attended an off-campus prom April 10. After initially ordering all Mayfield High students to stay home until April 26 while the event was investigated, officials recalculated the quarantine time from the date of the event, not the complaint. That allowed the high school of 1,400 students to return to in-person classes Tuesday.

Mayfield High School Principal Eric Fraass says he learned of the event after being forwarded photos from social media posts. In a Snapchat/Instagram world, so much for anything, much less a prom, being “secret.”

A spokeswoman for the school district had said students who attended could face disciplinary actions ranging from academic suspensions to being barred from school events like graduation. After a yearlong pandemic in one of the most restrictive states in the union, one has to wonder how many students, especially graduating seniors, would have said it was worth it.

Thankfully — just as in the movie — cooler heads ultimately prevailed.

Faced with backlash from elected officials over the district’s actions, Las Cruces Public Schools Interim Superintendent Ralph Ramos said this week student organizers won’t face punishment. “We have not disciplined anybody,” he said.

Ramos said state education and health officials began the investigation April 14 and found the prom had 200 to 500 students not wearing face masks. A DJ for the event said attendees wore masks but many didn’t keep them on the whole time. He said the prom included about 20 adult supervisors who worked to ensure social distancing, and “the kids had such a good time, you could just tell.”

Ramos said school officials also discovered at least one other large student party billed as a secret prom, though with greater adherence to COVID-19 safe practices.

The good news is other Las Cruces high schools are in the process of planning socially distanced proms — let’s hope these become reality. Under the current emergency orders, outdoor events do seem possible, welcome news for students who have had little to look forward to these past 13 months.

We are not advocating ignoring the governor’s emergency orders, which the unsanctioned dances appear to have done. But to discipline some and penalize all students for an unsanctioned, off-school event — which was obviously approved by some adults — would have gained nothing.

So kudos to school district officials for keeping open minds and backing off their original statements.

Because robbing the entire student body of even more of the small amount of in-person learning these students will get this school year and disciplining those who dared to dance (with adult supervision) would have just been silly. Almost as silly as banning rock music and dancing.