Appeals Court Clears Path for Comeaux High Trial Wednesday. Here’s What Lafayette Parents Need to Know.

LAFAYETTE, La. — The civil trial over whether the Lafayette Parish School Board followed its own policies and state open meetings law when it voted to close Comeaux High School is moving forward on Wednesday. The Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals said no on Monday to the school board’s request to stop it.

The board had asked the appellate court for a supervisory writ, which is a tool courts can use to step in and correct a lower court’s ruling before a case proceeds. The appeals court declined, and its reasoning was straightforward: the school board’s attorneys had not demonstrated that the district would suffer any irreparable harm between now and Wednesday’s hearing.

The court noted the board “provided no evidence it will suffer irreparable harm in the very short time between the trial court’s decision and the hearing scheduled for April 29.”

That means 15th Judicial District Court Judge Valerie Gotch-Garrett will hold the trial on Wednesday and hear testimony from school board members, district employees, parents, and members of the public.

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How Comeaux High Got Here

This fight started on March 12, when the Lafayette Parish School Board voted 5-2 to take Comeaux High offline at the end of the current school year. The plan was to rezone around 640 students to other parish high schools and convert the Comeaux campus into the W.D. and Mary Baker Smith Career Center and E.J. Sam Accelerated School.

The vote came after more than three hours of public comment opposed to the closure, and legal challenges followed quickly.

On March 20, Lafayette Parish resident Suzanne LaJaunie filed a petition in 15th Judicial District Court arguing the board broke state law in at least three areas: holding private conversations during the public meeting in violation of Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law, skipping the public hearing its own closure policy requires before any such vote, and a potential conflict of interest involving a board member whose husband serves as secretary of the Lafayette Charter Foundation Board of Trustees.

A Preliminary Injunction, Then a Series of Reversals

Judge Gotch-Garrett issued a preliminary injunction on April 13, ordering the school system to stop any action tied to the closure and setting the full trial for April 29.

The school board moved fast. On April 15, it held a special meeting and unanimously voted to rescind the original March 12 closure decision. At the same meeting, it adjusted enrollment cap language in board policy and scheduled a public hearing on the closure for April 23, which is the procedural step its own closure policy requires before a vote can happen.

That hearing never took place. The judge’s staff attorney sent LPSS a written reminder that any further action on Comeaux would be a direct violation of the preliminary injunction. The district canceled the hearing within hours.

The board then filed an appeal with the Third Circuit, arguing the injunction was preventing it from restarting the closure process. That appeal was denied on Monday.

What Happens Wednesday

At Wednesday’s trial, Judge Gotch-Garrett will hear the full case on the merits of LaJaunie’s lawsuit. Testimony is expected from school board members, district staff, parents, and other community members. At the center of the case are two questions: did the board follow its own written closure policy, and did the March 12 meeting comply with Louisiana’s Open Meetings Law?

Comeaux High remains open for now, with no closure vote on any published LPSS agenda. The months of legal uncertainty have not been without cost. Teachers and staff have taken positions at other schools, and receiving campuses have already begun preparing for students who may or may not arrive next fall.

Wednesday’s trial is the next major step in determining what actually happens to one of Lafayette Parish’s oldest high schools.

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