Lafayette School Board Unanimously Votes to Rescind Comeaux High School Closure — Here’s What It Means

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — Comeaux High School will stay open. The Lafayette Parish School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to rescind the March 12 decision that would have shut down the southwest Lafayette campus at the end of the current school year.

According to KATC, not a single board member voted against the reversal — a stark turnaround from the 5-2 vote that put Comeaux on the chopping block five weeks ago.

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How Comeaux Got Here

The March 12 vote was not the board’s first pass at closing Comeaux. In November 2024, the board voted 5-4 to keep the school open after a meeting that packed the boardroom with students, parents, and alumni. That vote came the same day state scores showed Comeaux had earned an A rating and recorded the greatest academic growth of any school in the district.

March went differently. Two members who had voted against closure in 2024 were absent: District 9 Member Jeremy Hidalgo and District 7 Member Joshua Edmond. With them out, the board approved the closure 5-2. Board Vice President David LeJeune and Board Member Amy Trahan were the only votes against it.

The plan called for renovating the Comeaux campus to house the W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center and E.J. Sam Accelerated School, with the athletic fields becoming a district-wide sports complex. The district projected the move would save $2,069,976 a year from the general fund. Comeaux students would have been rezoned to Acadiana, Lafayette, and Southside high schools.

The Lawsuit That Changed the Math

The March vote triggered a legal fight almost immediately. Lafayette resident Suzanne LaJaunie filed a petition in 15th Judicial District Court on March 20, arguing the board violated Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law and ignored its own school closure policy to get the vote done.

Her petition alleged board members held private conversations during the March 12 meeting that people in the room and watching online could not hear. Citizens who came to speak were turned away after a recess. Public comment was statements only, no questions permitted. LaJaunie also pointed to an email from Board Member Kate Labue, who co-placed the closure item on the agenda. In it, Labue described the career center discussion as “ongoing” and said proposals had been “reexamined” before the meeting. LaJaunie argued that language proved substantive deliberations had taken place outside a properly noticed public meeting.

The Lafayette Parish School System denied any wrongdoing. LPSS attorney Robert Hammonds argued in court that LaJaunie would need to prove irreparable harm and a likelihood of prevailing on the merits to win injunctive relief.

She did. On April 13, Judge Valerie Gotch-Garrett issued a preliminary injunction blocking the district from taking any further steps toward the closure. Gotch-Garrett told both parties the district was prohibited from moving on anything related to Comeaux. She also declined to require LaJaunie to post the monetary bond state law typically requires of plaintiffs seeking injunctive relief, describing the case as a community issue and saying the board needed to follow its own policy and procedures.

A trial was set for April 29, at which Gotch-Garrett would have determined whether the March vote should be voided.