HOOKSETT — After the school board voted Tuesday to give Manchester schools 180 days to remedy classroom overcrowding or face a breach of the high school assignment contract, more parents and students may look to the Hooksett High School Assessment Committee for information and options.

The committee was created last spring in response to a controversy over a school board policy that required families to demonstrate a hardship if they wanted to send their children to schools in districts other than Manchester. Hooksett has a 20-year contract with Manchester to send its high school students to city schools, and at the time the school board thought the growing numbers of students opting out of Manchester would be seen as a breach of contract on the part of the town.

Although that policy has since been modified, leaving it up to Superintendent Charles Littlefield, instead of the school board, to decide whether a student can opt out of Manchester, the High School Assessment Committee was created to gather information about area high schools with the goal of seeing how Hooksett could maintain its commitment to Manchester schools while meeting the needs and goals of individual students that might be better served in other schools.

But with Hooksett students returning to Manchester schools only to find themselves in packed classrooms where the number of students is well over the state-recommended limit of 30, it is Manchester that is being threatened with a notification of breach of contract.

Families with students in city schools are also concerned that in some cases, upper-level students are now in classes aimed at students studying at lower levels.

Although Hooksett is required to give Manchester 180 days to resolve the problem before the contract can be voided, the school board has already authorized Littlefield to begin talking with other school districts about accepting the town’s high school students.

“One of the things I think we can do immediately is relax the restrictions for kids who want to attend other schools,” said School Board member David Pearl.

Pearl, who drafted the charge for the assessment committee, said the new group wasn’t formed in response to the problems in Manchester.

“At the time, we didn’t know they were going into a budget crisis,” he said. “My idea was to have more information available for everybody about all the schools.”

Last week, Hooksett resident Kara Salvas, who has signed up to serve on the assessment committee, said the group, made up of parents, educators and administrators, would be gathering all types of information on curriculum, class sizes, graduation rates and extracurricular activities.

“As a community we need to look at all of this,” she said. “We need to provide some flexibility and options for students in Hooksett.”

Last month when Manchester Assistant Superintendent Michael Tursi came to Hooksett to tell school board members that budget cuts and teacher layoffs had forced the district to cut 90 courses and schedule some classes where students numbered in the high 30s, the board seemed willing to wait until Oct. 1, before making any decisions.

Tursi said that’s when Manchester would have a clearer picture of enrollment. Tursi and board members also discussed other options such as having students attend classes at some of the city’s colleges.

Pearl, who made the motion to send the letter to Manchester to inform them they were in breach of contract, proposed waiting until Oct. 1 to send the letter.

But faced with a large group of concerned and angry parents, the school board voted to send the letter immediately and start the clock ticking.

“If they fix the problem in 180 days, then there’s no breach of contract,” said Pearl. “If, after 180 days, the Department of Education says Manchester hasn’t solved the problem, at the end of the school year we walk away.”

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Barbara Taormina may be reached at btaormina@newstote.com.