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Contact: Mike Cook Communications Specialist
(505) 527-5934
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LAS CRUCES – At present, the Las Cruces Public School District has 23,000 to 24,000 students attending classes in 24 elementary schools, seven middle schools, four high schools and Mesilla Valley Training Center. The district has more than 1,600 teachers and more than 3,800 total employees.
With the addition of Sonoma Elementary in 2006, the district now has 42 school and administrative sites equaling a little more than three million square feet (not including about 100,000 square feet of portable space) covering about 725 acres.
The first school building in Las Cruces was South Ward School, built in 1893 on land now occupied by the LCPS Administration Building. South Ward was a one-story, red-brick building used until 1926 when it was judged unsafe and students were moved to Central School.
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The 7th and 8th grades at South Ward School, circa 1900, pose for a class photo. South Ward, built in 1893, was the first school building in Las Cruces. It was torn down in 1926 when students were moved to Central School. |
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A 1900-01 Las Cruces Public Schools catalogue lists a local population of 4,000, and 323 students in the public schools. (Some students have marks by their names, with this explanation: “Those designated by the X have not attended lately.”)
The schools had a three-person board of directors: Prisiliano Moreno, Jose R. Lucero and Luis D. Valdez; two officers of the board: Moreno, chairman, and Valdez, clerk; and a faculty of Superintendent S. C. Pandolfo; assistants Miss Lessie Etheridge, Sister Genova and Sister Benita; and Miss Ivan Mean, B.S., principal of Ward School.
The catalogue describes the “Public School System” as follows: “In the south part of Las Cruces, is a large brick building, which has four spacious rooms, well furnished with single and double patient desks, also many other neccessaries (sic), such as maps, globes, and so forth. In the north part of town, is the ward school, which is likewise supplied with modern school furniture, and is ample to satisfy the demand.”
The catalogue says, “The public schools have always been the friends of the people, and no other system has ever accomplished the good that they have. The different legislatures in the several states have long since decided this, in establishing public schools, that the rich and the poor, side by side, might attend, and receive the self-same instruction, which is for the betterment of each generation. In a republican form of government, general education is considered of paramount importance, hence the public schools. Cite me in a community, a town, or a city that has an excellent public school system, and I will point to one that is alive to its needs and requirements. A man who is unfriendly to public schools is an enemy to his country.”
Under “Remarks,” the catalogue says “Let every person see that his children are regular and punctual in attending school. It is of the utmost importance that no pupil lose even a day; because, when time is misspent, it is irrevocably lost. Every hour that your child stays out of school, he misses something that he may never get.”
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 Old Central High School is shown in this undated photo. The school was on the site of the current Central Elementary School. |
The Las Cruces school system wound up with some 17 different school districts at one time, most containing a single school. Eventually, there were three major systems. In 1954, the district consolidated into one system: Las Cruces Public Schools.
The first LCPS bond election was held April 26, 1955, with 488 “yes” votes and 34 “no” votes approving $510,000 for the district. Since then, bond elections have been held in 1956-60, 1962, 1964-67, 1973, 1979, 1982, 1988, 1991, 1994, 2000 and 2003, 2006 and 2008. The capital improvements levy was added to the ballot in 1979. No bond or levy has ever been defeated. |
Last modified
January 29, 2010
Las Cruces Public Schools | 505 S. Main, Ste. 249 | Las Cruces, NM 88001 | (575) 527-5800
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