Several Manchester parents told a committee considering the future of West High School – which will see an exodus of Bedford students over the next two years – that a simple solution would be to send all students from Hooksett, Auburn and Candia to the West Side school.

“I think the most practical solution is to change the bus routes,” said Kathleen Kirwin, a Manchester schools librarian.

“I do feel bad for them, but we can’t make (this) decision based on who wants to be on the football team at one school.” Said Manchester parent Tracy Gallagher, “All the kids from Hooksett and wherever else they come from, they go to one place, they make friends as well.”

Rerouting Hooksett, Candia and Auburn students – who are currently dispersed throughout the three city high schools as part of a long-term tuition contract – was just one of several options suggested by the group of about 60 Manchester parents attending a forum hosted by the committee on Tuesday, March 27.

At a separate Manchester Board of Schools committee meeting that night, a group of Manchester school board members said they favored moving all Hooksett’s students to West, according to Union Leader reports.

The Manchester school board will likely decide on a solution for West’s future at a special meeting some time in April, said David Scannell, a member of the future of West committee.

Parents at the meeting berated the group for not providing any concrete information on any of the options it’s exploring and questioned why plans for West’s future have taken so long to develop, since Bedford residents voted for their own high school more than two years ago.

Scannell did outline several options for the schools including a redistricting that would create new grade configurations for Manchester’s schools, housing “academies” within the school for students with specific academic interests, turning empty space at West into Manchester School District administrative offices and redistricting by moving around the Hooksett, Auburn and Candia students.

Bob St. Jean, one of two families representing Hooksett at the meeting, stood up for the smaller towns, and said many Hooksett families have a strong emotional attachment to Central High School, which is the default school for Hooksett students on the east side of the Merrimack River.

St. Jean also said Candia students, who now typically go to Central, could would have even longer bus commutes to and from school.

“I suggest that you consult carefully with the school boards in those other towns,” St. Jean said.

Manchester Central parent Susan Berry said she thought any type of redistricting would be disruptive for students who’ve grown accustomed to their current schools.

“My (child) has made a lot of friends this year, even with students from Hooksett and Candia,” she said.

Scannell said his guess is that the Future of West Committee won’t present Manchester’s school board with a recommendation, but will rather lay out the multiple options for the board’s consideration.

“I don’t see a critical mass of people behind one option,” he said.

Scannell said no changes will likely occur at West until September 2008, when three grades of Bedford students will have left. All the town’s students will be out by the 2009-10 school year.