Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) is a school district headquartered in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The school district covers the city of Las Cruces as well as White Sands Missile Range, the settlement of Doña Ana, and the town of Mesilla. The system has 25 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and six high schools. Of the high schools, St. Mary's Catholic high school, Alma D'Arte, Las Montañas, and Arrowhead Park Early College High School are alternative high schools, and there are nearly 25,000 students and 3,600 employees. LCPS is the second-largest school district in New Mexico.[1]
History
In 1918, Las Cruces Union High School (now just Las Cruces High School) opened in the area. Segregation came to Las Cruces in the 1910s and was made an option for districts codified by state law in 1924. In Las Cruces, Lincoln High School opened in a church after African Americans were removed from integrated schools and in the 1930s Booker T. Washington School opened at 755 East Chestnut, serving African Americans of all grades[2][3]Clara Belle Williams, who was the first African American to graduate from the predecessor of New Mexico State University was Lincoln's first teacher and taught at the schools for more than 20 years.[2]
