The Hooksett School board voted recently to begin negotiating an early withdrawal from Manchester High Schools. Tonight will be the first, joint school board session between Hooksett and Manchester. And talks are expected to start on bitter terms.With class sizes between thirty to forty students, many Hooksett residents feel they have a solid legal footing on which to argue a breach of contract to leave Manchester schools. But these negotiations are an effort to avoid what could be a protracted and contentious legal battle. They also leave the door open for Hooksett to keep kids in Manchester but under a different contract.
Nonetheless, just getting these negotiations off the ground has proven difficult. The Hooksett board wants to hold the meeting in its town while Manchester proposed a number of its own city venues. They finally agreed to meet at Hooksett’s Cawley Middle School.
At the meeting, Hooksett parents are expected to be outspoken in their complaints. But board members on both sides say they hope the meeting will improve communication between the two school districts.