Comeaux High families pretty much all say the same thing when asked how the school atmosphere feels: better than it’s been in a while.

The school has a new headteacher, Catherine Cassidy, who has over 10 years of administrative experience. Cassidy, a senior, made an effort to beautify the campus before school started, cleaning out eight dumpsters filled with old materials, furniture and other clutter.

The Rotary Club of Lafayette South has “adopted” the school and is raising funds for seating and other beautification projects around campus. Through Love Our Schools CAFE, Bayou Church has poured volunteer hours into Comeaux.

All of these changes felt like the beginning of much-needed stability and investment for the Spartan community, members said.

“This school year has been electric,” parent Ashley Brinkhaus told The Advocate. “The way we felt as freshmen compared to the way we feel as juniors, this was the year we finally felt like things were going to turn around at Comeaux.”

But in October, a strategic planner hired by the district to help the Lafayette Parish school system evaluate facilities and programs announced as part of the proposed plan that he thought the school should be closed.

It was stunning news for families, students, staff and alumni. It’s been decades since a high school in Lafayette Parish closed.

“I was shocked when I heard they were talking about closing Comeaux,” said Kylan Williams, who will graduate in 2023. “That was painful to hear. Wanting to close Comeaux seems like dropping out of school.”

The sentiment has since turned to anger and action for some in the Comeaux community who are unwilling to let this be the final decision without pushback.

Enrollment, turnover and construction funding

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

The recommendations are not final, and CSG officials said community comments collected through three in-person sessions, an online survey and email feedback will shape the final recommendations before the school board at its Nov. 20 meeting.

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

School closings can have lasting negative effects on students, which may be worse for high school students, according to research.

A rresearcher who studied the effects of closures students in Texas have found that shutdowns cause disruptions in test scores and behavior. Test scores recovered within three years, but behavioral problems persisted, and the researcher found a decline in postsecondary attainment, employment, and earnings at ages 25-27.

Comeaux was recommended for closure because he met only two goals set by the district: his academic success and a large investment in the facility.

It did not meet the other two objectives. It spent about $1,180 more per student than other high schools. It also did not have teacher retention above 80 percent, and only 66 percent of families zoned for the school chose to send their students there.

But to some, it seems Comeaux and other schools in the district have been set up to fail those goals for years.

“The conditions at Comeaux haven’t happened in the last three years,” Brinkhaus said. “This is due to years and years of mismanagement by central office.”

CSG looked at 10-year spending amounts for each school to determine conditions and investments at each school, a goal Comeaux met by about $16.1 million. Supporters pointed out that most of the money was used to build a new performing arts wing.

When looking at fiscal year 2020-2024 spending, Comeaux received about $6.1 million in capital funding. Northside High, Carencro High and Acadiana High received more capital funding during that time.

Southside High, which was built in 2017, received about $5 million in capital funding. Lafayette High School received the most of all high schools — about $83 million — because of its reconstruction project. But excluding that funding, it received nearly $3 million in capital projects.

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

Enrollment at Comeaux has declined over the past six school years, according to data collected by CSG. The first year reviewed was 2018-2019, the second school year open for Southside High, built to accommodate an overcrowded Comeaux and a growing Youngsville and Broussard. About 900 students were zoned in 2017 from Comeaux to Southside.

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

Supporters said during in-person feedback meetings that relying on Comeaux enrollment as a metric was wrong. There is no direct secondary school and some have complained that the zoning for Southside has not been adequately enforced.

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

That leadership malaise is partly to blame for high staff turnover, some said.

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

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

And there’s another metric that didn’t appear in CSG’s reports but is constantly brought up: the poor state of Comeaux’s athleticism. It was once a fighting power. His once competitive football team has not won a game in over two years.

“Athletics has a lot to do with the school system wanting to close Comeaux,” said Dwight Lindon, Class of 2001, who played running back. “There is more to it than athletics. Comeaux provides a great education.

“Everybody wants to win, but you also have to look at how many kids are going to college in Comeaux. Comeaux is a thriving school.”

The boys on the current football team feel like if they just won one game, the school wouldn’t be in business, said Broussard, whose son Sean Brinkhaus is the starting quarterback.

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

“We find solutions”

The Spartan community felt “meauxmentum,” a mantra coined by Cassidy and the school staff. Cassidy said the school is on track to receive an “A” rating from the state when scores are released this month. She also said that discipline has improved and absenteeism has decreased.

Until the final decisions are released later this month and the school board votes, the Comeaux community is not giving up on the school easily.

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

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