Hundreds of people flocked to Comeaux High School on Thursday evening as if the final bell was about to ring.

Alumni and former faculty walked the halls one final time of the school they called home for years, peeking into classrooms, greeting former classmates and reminiscing. Some scored tangible souvenirs: T-shirts, football jerseys, football helmets, plants and folding chairs with the Spartans logo on them.

The school, opened in 1966, is slated to close June 30 to become a career center. The closure follows a bitter fight between faculty, alumni, students and parents pitted against the Lafayette Parish School Board and school system administration.

“It’s bittersweet,” Barbara Vautrot, who taught at Comeaux High from 1974-2004, said as she stood in a hallway, surrounded by former students and teachers.

“The classroom was the happiest place in my life.”

Greeted by a former student, she recalled their name immediately. She even remembered where some of them sat in her classroom.

Staci Henry was one of Vautrot’s English students for two years. A 1988 graduate, Henry said it felt like it was just yesterday she was walking the halls at Comeaux High as a student.

“It hurts my heart to think this is going away,” Henry said.

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Old friends reunite during a Legacy Walk for alumni, former educators and staff members of Comeaux High School on Thursday, June 26, 2026, in Lafayette. The school is scheduled to close June 30 before being repurposed as a career center.

Bittersweet also was the word alumnus Brandon Plaisance used to described his feelings. Pulling a wagon with two of his children in it while his wife carried the youngest, he aimed for the band room where he played saxophone four years.

“My best memories were mostly in this room,” he said. “I loved being in band.”

He hoped his children would be able to attend Comeaux High, too, but that’s not going to happen.

Plaisance said it seems odd to be closing the school when you hear about overcrowding at other schools, including the new Southside High, where some of the students zoned for Comeaux will be sent now.

Other graduates enjoyed reconnecting with old friends.

“I feel extra, extra old,” Devante Lee, a 2017 graduate who played football for the Spartans, No. 97, said in the gym as he greeted friends.

Breanna Foreman, a 2019 graduate said she met Lee at Comeaux High in 2015.

“In that hallway right there,” Lee added.

“In Ms. McNair’s English class,” Foreman added.

Cheri Chopelin Armentor, class of 1989, was happy to revisit the memories and former classmates during the final walk-through.

“I loved high school,” she said. “This was a fabulous school.”

Armentor remembered being hit in the face with a pie as an initiation for becoming class president, wild pep rallies in the gym and selling spirit tags for $1 each.

“I loved it,” she said.

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Attendees roam the halls during a Legacy Walk for alumni, former educators and staff members of Comeaux High School on Thursday, June 26, 2026, in Lafayette. The school is scheduled to close June 30 before being repurposed as a career center.

Sophia Burleigh has the distinction of being part of the Class of 2026, the final group of students to graduate from the school. She’s still bitter about the unsuccessful two-year fight with the school system to keep Comeaux High open.

“It’s not something we’re going to forgive and forget,” she said. “This school board hurt everybody.”

Myra Young, also a 2026 graduate, said she had to audition to be in the arts program at Comeaux High and her mother woke up every day at 4 a.m. to drive her to school.

“I fought for it and now it’s just gone,” she said.

The leaders at the Lafayette Parish School System, Burleigh said, just see dollar signs when making decisions like closing Comeaux High.

“We’re not numbers. We’re people,” she said.

Contact Claire Taylor at ctaylor@theadvocate.com

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