Candia voters say yes to Pinkerton

DERRY — Pinkerton Academy will welcome its sixth sending town.

On March 8, voters in Candia overwhelmingly approved a measure to send the town's high school students to Pinkerton, part of a 20-year tuition deal, but a vote of 1,090-113.

With this vote, the town will pull students out of its relationship with Manchester Central High School, a connection that has lasted decades.

The Candia School Board and the New Hampshire Department of Education gave an earlier approval to the Pinkerton plan. The last step was to get voter support.

The plan, which was OK’d by the state Board of Education in November, received unanimous support from the school board.

Pinkerton Headmaster Griffin Morse said the relationship between Candia and Pinkerton will be a successful one.

“We are delighted to welcome the remainder of the Candia high school students to Pinkerton with the voter approval of the historic tuition agreement," Morse said. "The many families who have been paying to have their children at Pinkerton have brought the town of Candia and our Pinkerton community together. We have worked and celebrated together their children's many successes at and contributions to Pinkerton."

Morse said it will be an excellent fit for the 20-year life of the agreement and beyond.

"Our Board of Trustees and the Candia School Board worked well together and in good faith, knowing that we already had a success story to build on so there was no doubt on either side that we were creating a very stable, promising future for the town of Candia and for Pinkerton," he said.

Morse added that current times offer fluctuations in birth rates, enrollment numbers and local populations. The agreement with Candia will help stabilize those forces by making education "the bedrock of stability for the area."

"Needless to say, Pinkerton's already compelling educational value improves, just as our commitment to Candia and Candia's commitment to Pinkerton do," Morse said. "We are grateful to the Candia School Board and the people of Candia for trusting in us and making a longer and deeper commitment to a Pinkerton education.”

The new contract with Pinkerton begins in 2018. Candia has about 200 high school students currently attending school in Manchester.

Candia will join other Pinkerton contracted towns including Derry, Chester, Hampstead, Auburn, and Hooksett.