Administrators at West High School have announced a plan they will bring before the city’s School Board to establish a series of academies at the high school.

About a third of Hooksett high school students currently attend West.

The preliminary plans, which will go before the School Board sometime in February, would start specialized academies of performing arts and computer technology first, eventually adding health and human services, business, and arts and humanities academies.

The general studies program would be expanded and developed into an academy as well, and the school’s Army ROTC program would also be built upon.

Freshman and sophomore academies would also be started. Students would pass through those before choosing the specialized academy they wish to enter in their junior year.

School administrators are not revealing costs or details of the programming associated with the plan at this time, as the School Board and Mayor Frank Guinta have not yet seen a proposal.

West Assistant Principal Gary Dempsey said the academy plan was developed in collaboration with about 30 people, including parents and school faculty.

Dempsey, formerly an assistant principal at Nashua North High School, said he saw the academy system working in Nashua. A similar program was implemented following the split of the old high school into Nashua North and Nashua South with the construction of a second high school starting in 2002.

“The academy approach is designed to have each kid map out a plan for what their 10-year plan is,” Dempsey said.

Since talks about Bedford opening its own high school in town began a few years ago, which meant West would lose about half its student population, the question of West’s future has been undetermined. Guinta has called for a long-term plan for the school.

Bedford High School opened with just grades 9 and 10 this year, with a total of about 550 students. According to enrollment projections, a few freshman and sophomore students living in Bedford remained at West. Bedford student enrollment was projected at about 440 students for the 2007-08 year.

In the 2008-09 year, the shift of students is projected to be more dramatic as the Bedford high school phases in the 11th grade, for a total of more than 950 students. In 2009-10, the 12th grade will switch to the new Bedford school, leaving West with a projected seven Bedford students still at the school.

All Bedford students are expected to be phased out of West by the 2010-11 school year.

As the plans are still very preliminary, there is no word on whether the West academies will serve as a magnet program for students from other areas of Manchester or other towns.

Dr. John Avard, Manchester School Board member, said an English Language Learners program was among curriculum changes to help bring in freshman students who currently attend Central for that special programming.

He added the exodus of Bedford’s students from West will not leave the school half empty, as West had some overcrowding issues in the past.

Ariel Wilson, 15, of Hooksett, is a freshman at West and wants to get into marine biology. None of the planned academies would likely fit her career interests, she said, but thinks other students would benefit.

“I think it would be a good idea. I guess it would depend if there was an interest in it,” she said.