A working contract between the Candia School District and Pinkerton Academy will go to the state Board of Education on Nov. 18.
In the Fall Meeting for Trustees and Sending Towns, held Thursday, Oct. 29, Brad Ek, chairman of the Pinkerton Board of Trustees, gave an update on the third town in School Administrative Unit (SAU) 15, which may become Pinkerton’s sixth sending town. SAU 15 encompasses Auburn, Candia and Hooksett.
Ek said the Candia School Board voted July 1 to approve the 20-year contract and to put it before voters in the March School District voting. If it passes voters, Candia will begin sending students in 2018, with a projected number of 65 new ninth-graders in 2018, 73 in 2019, and 81 in 2020.
Ek said the contract includes a provision that students who are already enrolled in Manchester Central High School can remain there until graduation.
Ek said the Candia contract, if approved by voters, will help Pinkerton maintain a steady enrollment. Enrollment from Derry, its largest sending community, is down by 100 students, and keeping a stable enrollment allows the school to offer more programs and extracurricular activities.
About 10 percent of Candia’s high-school age students are already tuitioned in to Pinkerton, Headmaster Griffin Morse said.
“We welcome Candia, and we hope in March the town will agree to it,” Ek said.