Highland Middle School in Hobbs cancels Homecoming Parade, reschedules game after incident involving staff member

Superintendent Gene Strickland confirmed a suspect is in custody and said all students and staff are safe. Parents were asked to pick their children up from Highland Middle School and Coronado Elementary on Friday afternoon. The district posted updates to its Facebook page but released no other details about what happened.

The lack of information leaves a lot of questions open for families in Hobbs. Parents pulled their kids out of two schools on a Friday afternoon without knowing why, then watched a Homecoming tradition get scrapped hours before it was supposed to happen. The football team still gets its game, just not on the night or in the atmosphere anyone planned for.

Canceling a parade and moving a marquee football game suggests the disruption reached beyond one classroom or one building. Coronado Elementary getting swept into the pickup order points to a response that covered more than just the middle school campus.

A superintendent confirming a suspect is in custody, with almost nothing else said publicly, tends to raise more questions in a town than it answers.