Several Lake Central High School students have been suspended pending expulsion hearings after being caught intoxicated and in possession of alcohol at the Lake Central prom Friday night, school officials said Monday.

The students who were involved in the incident were not in school Monday, Lake Central Superintendent Janet Emerick said. She also said Lake Central administrators have requested the students be expelled.

She said about 20 students were on a chartered bus, heading to the prom. She said most of the students were Lake Central students, but some were from other schools. She did not identify the other schools.

"Administrators discovered that some of the students had been drinking," she said. "I think they found some alcohol on some of the kids. Some were in possession, and some were under the influence."

The prom was at the Halls of St. George, 905 E. Joliet St., Schererville.

None of the students was arrested, Emerick said. And no charges were pending Monday against the students or anyone else in the matter, Schererville police reported.

Emerick said most of the students involved were seniors and that parents were called to pick up the students following the discovery of alcohol use.

"Whenever alcohol is involved, the administration requests expulsion, though that doesn't mean the students will be expelled," Emerick said.

She said district hearing officers determine what happens to suspended students, not school administrators. Emerick said a hearing has to be scheduled within 10 days of the incident, meaning it has to be held by May 19. But Emerick said the hearing could be continued.

Schererville police Cmdr. Brian VanDenburgh said police were called to the Halls of St. George at 8:05 p.m. to conduct a search of a charter bus because a student passed out.

VanDenburgh had no other comments regarding the student who passed out, and school officials declined to comment.

"Officers assisted Lake Central School Security Director Fred Stamate in a search of the bus, responding with a canine search at the school's request," VanDenburgh said. "Containers of alcohol were confiscated by school officials."

Matt Shoup, manager of the Cardinal Bus Inc. in Middlebury, Ind., said his company was contracted to pick up students from Lake Central High School and take them to the Halls of St. George.

"It's a short drive, and to our knowledge, there was no drinking on the bus," Shoup said.

There are 4.81 miles between the high school and the Halls of St. George, with an estimated trip time of eight minutes.

Shoup said he was on the phone with the bus driver when police arrived, and the driver did not see anyone carrying any alcohol or drinking on the bus.

"If students had anything on them, I'm speculating that it may have been concealed. There were no containers, nothing visible. Anything (the police) found was well concealed," Shoup said.

Shoup said the driver told him there were no adult chaperones on the bus, and the "parent who chartered the bus put her daughter in charge." Shoup declined to release the name of the parent who chartered the bus.

However, he said when the bus driver became "aware of the mischief," the trip was terminated.

"The driver did nothing wrong. Anything that happened was hidden," he said.