SCHERERVILLE | Police are working with Lake Central school officials to investigate promgoers who were drunk at the Friday night event, police and school officials confirmed Tuesday.

More than two dozen Lake Central High School students have been suspended pending expulsion hearings after being caught intoxicated and in possession of alcohol at the prom, school officials said.

Schererville police Cmdr. Brian VanDenburgh said police are working with school officials on the investigation, but VanDenburgh said the school district is conducting the primary investigation.

VanDenburgh said it was unlikely that charges would be filed, but he said it was still "too early" to say.

The students road a chartered bus from the high school in St. John to the prom at the Halls of St. George in Schererville, school officials have said. When one of the boys in the group passed out, administrators said they discovered the students were intoxicated and in possession of alcohol.

VanDenburgh said there were no drugs found during a police search of the bus. He said the school district conducted the breath tests. Larry Veracco, Lake Central director of personnel, said the expulsion hearing has not been set.

"We don't have a toxicology report on the boy who went to the hospital. We don't know what caused him to go to the hospital to be treated," Veracco said, adding he believes the teen was treated and released. "We are trying to find out who supplied the alcohol, but so far we have been stonewalled."

Veracco said some parents have come in to talk to school administrators regarding the expulsions, but he noted, "It's out of our hands. It's been turned over to the hearing officer."

Lake Central expulsion hearings are handled by the Valparaiso-based law firm Langer & Langer.

Veracco said the students in question were cooperative, and the district normally tries to keep these kinds of issues as "school matters" rather than having students arrested.

"We know the students are going to be in trouble with school consequences, and hopefully, their parents are taking care of the issue at home," he said.