LPSS May Undo Comeaux High Closure Before April Trial

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — The Lafayette Parish School Board will revisit its decision to close Ovey Comeaux High School Wednesday night, with a new agenda item asking members to reverse the March vote that set the closure in motion.

According to KATC, the item could roll back the board’s March 12 vote to take Comeaux offline at the end of the 2025-26 school year and repurpose the campus. A judge has already blocked the district from acting on that vote while a lawsuit works its way through court.

BLOCKED: Judge Halts Lafayette School Board’s Comeaux High Closure

A Judge Put the Brakes on Closure

The March vote set off a legal fight almost immediately. Lafayette resident Suzanne LaJaunie filed a petition in 15th Judicial District Court on March 20, arguing that the board violated Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law and failed to follow its own school closure policy in the process leading up to the vote.

The petition laid out several specific complaints. Board members held private conversations during the March 12 meeting that people in the room and watching online could not hear. Citizens who arrived to speak were turned away after a recess. Public comment was statements only, with no questions permitted.

LaJaunie also pointed to an email from Board Member Kate Labue, who co-placed the closure item on the agenda, in which Labue described the career center discussion as “ongoing” and said proposals had been “reexamined” before the meeting came to a vote — language LaJaunie argued showed substantive deliberations happened outside a properly noticed public meeting. LPSS Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Gardner testified at the injunction hearing that to her knowledge, everyone who wanted to speak at the March 12 meeting was able to do so.

The district has denied any wrongdoing throughout the litigation.

The court initially denied a temporary restraining order and granted a continuance. Then, on April 13, 15th JDC Judge Valerie Gotch-Garrett issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Lafayette Parish School System from taking any further steps toward the closure. Gotch-Garrett told both parties the district was prohibited from moving on anything related to Comeaux.

A trial is set for April 29. At that hearing, the judge will determine whether the board violated its own policy or state law. If she concludes either occurred, the March vote to close Comeaux would likely be voided.

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What the Board Voted to Do in March

The board approved the closure 5-2 on March 12. Board Vice President David LeJeune and Board Member Amy Trahan were the two dissenting votes. Two members who had voted against closure in a November 2024 vote were absent that night: District 9 Member Jeremy Hidalgo and District 7 Member Joshua Edmond.

Under the plan the board approved, the Comeaux campus would be renovated to house the W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center and E.J. Sam Accelerated School. The athletic fields would become a district-wide sports complex. The district projected the move would save roughly $2 million a year from the general fund.

Wednesday’s Vote Is Not Guaranteed

The agenda item does not indicate how board members are expected to vote on the rescission. It puts the closure question back in front of them while the litigation continues.

For families with students at Comeaux, the uncertainty has been grinding. Parent Tammy Bennett told KATC, “This is not just a building — this is people’s lives.” Student Breanna Bonton said the fight has worn on the student body: “A lot of people are discouraged.”

Third-generation Comeaux attendee Cassandra Vincent LaGrange, who attended the injunction hearing, said she hopes the process leads somewhere lasting. “I’m hoping that Comeaux High School gets its due respect as a secondary institution of learning,” she said.

Wednesday’s meeting will show whether the board resolves this on its own terms, or leaves it for a judge to decide on April 29.

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Gallery Credit: Joe Cunningham