Divestment doomed Comeaux, supporters say Education

Nearly all families at Comeaux High School say the same thing when asked about the school climate: Better than it has been in some time.

The school is led by new principal Catherine Cassidy, who has over 10 years of administrative experience. As an incoming leader, Cassidy insisted on beautifying the campus before school started, clearing out eight dumpsters full of old materials, furniture and other clutter.

The Rotary Club of Lafayette South has “adopted” the school and is raising funds for placemaking and other beautification projects on campus. Through Love Our Schools CAFE, Bayou Church has committed to volunteering in Comeaux.

Members said all of these changes felt like the beginning of much-needed stability and investment for the Spartan community.

“This school year has been tense,” parent Ashley Brinkhaus told The Advocate. “The way we felt as freshmen, compared to how we felt as juniors, that was the year we finally felt like everything was going to change at Comeaux.”

But in October, a strategic planner was hired by the district to help the Lafayette Parish School System evaluate facilities and programs announced as part of the proposed plan believes the school should be closed.

This was shocking news for families, students, staff and alumni. Decades have passed since Lafayette Parish High School closed.

“I was shocked when I heard they were talking about closing Comeaux,” said Kylan Williams, who will graduate in 2023. “It was heartbreaking. Wanting to close Comeaux sounds like they’re giving up on school.

Feelings have since turned to anger and action among some in the Comeaux community who do not want this to be a final decision without opposition.

Registration, trading and construction financing

Comeaux is not the only school that strategic planner Civil Solutions Group has recommended for closure as part of the district’s optimization plan. Six other schools may suffer the same fate. The recommendations also include building two new facilities on one property, consolidating some schools, expanding programs and urging the district to create long-term guidelines for facilities and programs.

The recommendations are not final, and CSG officials said community comments collected during three in-person sessions, an online survey and emailed feedback will influence the final recommendations, which will be presented to the school board at its Nov. 20 meeting.

Closing high schools is not common. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows that over the past 10 years, middle and high school closures typically accounted for about 33% or less of annual school closures.

Research shows that school closures can have a lasting negative impact on students, which may be even more serious for high school students.

And rresearcher who studied the effects of closures on Texas students found that school closures cause disruptions in test scores and behavior. Test scores improved over three years, but behavioral problems persisted, and the researcher found declines in postsecondary education, employment, and earnings between ages 25 and 27.

Comeaux’s closure was recommended because it only met two goals set by the district: academic success and a large investment in the facility.

The remaining two goals were not achieved. It spent about $1,180 more per student than other high schools. It also did not have a teacher retention rate of over 80% and only 66% of families earmarked for the school chose to send their students there.

But some feel that Comeaux and other schools in the district have failed to meet those goals for years.

“The conditions at Comeaux have not been like this for the last three years,” Brinkhaus said. “This is due to years of administrative mismanagement from the central office.”

CSG analyzed each school’s spending amounts over a 10-year period to determine facility conditions and investments at each school. Comeaux achieved the goal of approximately $16.1 million. Supporters pointed out that most of the money was used to build a new performing arts wing.

Looking at fiscal year 2020-2024 spending, Comeaux received approximately $6.1 million in capital financing. During this time, Northside High, Carencro High and Acadiana High received more capital funding.

Southside High, which was built in 2017, received approximately $5 million in capital financing. Lafayette High received the most of any high school – about $83 million – for the redevelopment project. But after excluding that financing, he received almost $3 million for capital projects.

The largest projects funded at Comeaux during that time were a new JROTC building and the soccer stadium renovation, which included $1.85 million for the turf.

Data collected by CSG shows that student enrollment at Comeaux School has declined over the past six school years. The first year included was 2018-2019, the second year the school opened at Southside High, which was built to serve the overpopulated Comeaux neighborhood and the growing Youngsville and Broussard neighborhoods. In 2017, approximately 900 students were transferred from Comeaux to Southside.

During the 2023–2024 school year, approximately 360 Comeaux-area students attended other LPSS schools and 20 attended charter or private schools. Lafayette Parish allows students to attend schools outside their zone if they qualify for a magnet program or academy at another school.

Supporters said during in-person feedback meetings that relying on Comeaux enrollment numbers as a metric was flawed. There is no direct access high school, and some have complained that Southside’s zoning wasn’t properly enforced.

Over the past seven years, Comeaux has had four principals and 11 assistant principals, current Principal Cassidy told parents during the meeting.

Some argue that managerial insatiability is partly to blame for high staff turnover.

“As a teacher, if you don’t feel supported by an administrator, this job sucks,” teacher Amanda Wiggins said at a community meeting.

“I love this year’s administrative team. I love the stability they bring,” she added. “I feel like if we give them a chance, a few years, amazing things can happen.”

There is another indicator that has not appeared in CSG reports but is constantly brought up: the poor state of Comeaux athletics. It used to be a wrestling powerhouse. Her once-competitive soccer team hasn’t won a game in over two years.

“Athletics has a lot to do with the school system wanting to close Comeaux,” said 2001 graduate Dwight Lindon, who played running back. “It’s more than just athletics. Comeaux offers a great education.

“Everyone wants to win, but you also have to consider how many kids go to college in Comeaux. Comeaux is a thriving school.”

The boys on the current football team feel that if they could just win the game, the school wouldn’t be in danger, said Broussard, whose son Sean Brinkhaus is the starting quarterback.

“They really think they have the weight of this school on their shoulders,” she said. “Now they really believe that if they had a winning program this year, they probably wouldn’t even be in the conversation.”

“We find solutions”

The Spartan community is feeling “meauxmentum,” a mantra coined by Cassidy and school staff. Cassidy said the school is poised to receive an “A” grade from the state when results are released later this month. She also said discipline had improved and absenteeism had dropped.

Until final decisions are made at the end of this month and the school board votes, the Comeaux community will not give up its school lightly.

“It’s about having a growth mindset,” teacher Gregory Robin said during a community meeting. Comeaux is a high-achieving and demographically diverse school. Instead of closing the school, the discussion should be how to increase student enrollment, he said.

“We teach students that when we fail, we don’t give up,” Robin said. “We find solutions to get them to where they need to be.”