As students and parents arrived for orientation Monday, Lafayette High School marked the completion of the bulk of its long-awaited campus construction with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
School board members, current and former faculty, local officials and members of the construction and design team gathered in the school's atrium to mark the substantial completion of the project, though work remains on the football field and a new baseball complex is planned at the former S.J. Montgomery Elementary School site.
Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Francis Touchet said about 2,200 students will attend Lafayette High this year.
“Today is the day that the majority of what’s happening here is complete,” Touchet said. “2,200 kids are going to walk the halls here on Friday.”
The previous Lafayette High School building at 3000 W. Congress St. stood for nearly 75 years, and was fully demolished in the spring of 2025. The new school opened to students and teachers last year, but campus remained in flux, with construction continuing on parts of the facility.
“The kids overwhelmingly say they’re inspired here,” said LHS principal Layne Edelman. “It’s like the building has taken the shape of what the heart of this school has always been.”
Lafayette Parish School Superintendent France Touchet, Jr., left, speaks to the faculty and staff during the official ribbon-cutting ceremony which marks the completion of the rebuild of the school at Lafayette High School on Monday, August 10, 2026 in Lafayette, La..
STAFF PHOTO BY BRAD KEMP
The new Lafayette High School can hold about 500 more students than the previous campus, and features 52 classrooms and labs, a larger library, new shops for woodworking and welding, a new gym and state-of-the-art concert hall for the school’s performing arts academy.
Incoming junior Monroe Roof said that the school’s open spaces are some of her favorite parts of the new building.
“I love our courtyard, and I love the outside areas that we’re allowed to eat lunch in,” she said. “And I really like the library.”
Biology teacher Kristy Hebert said that she’s seen the new facility impact students with a greater sense of ownership.
“Now, it feels like home,” Hebert said. “The kids are taking much more pride — making sure the area is picked up, putting things back where they belong. They take more responsibility, and they are treating it as such.”
Lafayette Parish schools are welcoming students for the 2026-2027 school year this week, and will soon start on other major construction and refurbishment projects across the district, including additions at L.J. Alleman Middle, Acadiana High and Broadmoor Elementary, and a new pre-K through 8th grade campus in north Lafayette for students from J.W. Faulk Elementary, Dr. Raphael Baranco Elementary and Paul Breaux Middle.
LPSS board member Roddy Bergeron represents Lafayette High School in district 6, and he said that getting to the ribbon-cutting at LHS represents the closing of one chapter, with others waiting to unfold across the community.
“It’s a turning point in Lafayette Parish,” he said. “We’re going to see new facilities, and we’ll see what we’re capable of doing.”