LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Las Cruces High School is the city’s oldest high school as it was opened in 1954. But over time the building has accumulated some physical conditions that need to be addressed. The problem seems to be so bad that just recently the Las Cruces School Board said it would consider possibly closing the school once a new high school is built in 2011. However, Thursday Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Stan Rounds said that is only an idea because the district is facing a problem of over-capacity among all three of the city’s high schools and by simply moving everyone out of the current LCHS and into a new building, nothing would be solved. Friday, assistant Principal Lorraine Paz gave KFOX a tour of the school to see the problem firsthand. Starting off with one of the older wings where all the foreign language classes are taken. She showed us that each of the rooms in that hall only have two outlets, so several extension cords are being used, which is a potential fire hazard. As the tour continued on, KFOX passed by lockers so old they can't even be used anymore.

“That's what our lockers look like all the way down they need to be taken out,” said Paz.

The art hall would be the next stop.

“It's supposed to be the art lobby, see look at our big old ceilings,” she said, as she was pointing to ceiling tile that had clearly taken a beating from water.

And it's not just the art lobby that's a concern in that wing, but classrooms as well.

“This is our art class outside,” said Paz.

“If we're in the room and there's no proper ventilation it can cause cancer in your lungs so we have to have ventilation and this is our only source,” said the teacher of that room.

After the art hall Paz took KFOX down to “H-wing”, which happens to be the school's newest addition since it was built about just five years ago. However, it doesn’t look new as a crack in the floor travels through many of the classrooms all the way down the hall. The crack isn’t a small one as it looks as if an earthquake hit the area and separated the floor.

It's not only a physical maintenance problem the school is facing, but a space issue, too. For example, there are only 401 parking spots for students and over 2,400 who attend the school. Consequently, Paz said the students are now parking anywhere they can and it’s becoming a safety concern. Furthermore, the band doesn't have enough space as they have to take their instruments across the street to a church parking lot, just to get some practice in.

“This is our storage and it's an old boiler room,” said Paz.

Space is clearly an issue all around the school. KFOX’s tour ended back in Paz’s office where she showed KFOX pictures of what the school looks like when it rains. It becomes flooded and muddy, because the school seems to lack an efficient drainage system around the area.

KFOX spoke with Rounds Thursday, and he said over the next few months extensive research will be taken by professionals and given to the school board to try and determine whether or not the school can be fixed.