CANDIA — The Candia School Board will meet with its lawyer tonight to review the town's options if the Manchester School District does not address the problem of overcrowded classrooms in its high schools.

The regular school board meeting is at 6 p.m. at the Moore School media center. The session with the district legal counsel may be in a private session, officials said.

Candia is one of three area communities that sends high school students to Manchester. The contracts between the town and city districts require Manchester to meet the state's minimum standards for class size. State regulations set 30 students per classroom as the limit. See related story, Page B1.

The contract requires participating towns to send all their high school students to Manchester, with exceptions approved only on a case-by-case basis by the sending school board.

Nicole LaFlamme, vice chair of the school board in Candia, said a town review of its compliance with the contract led to tightening procedures for allowing students to attend other high schools.

“We changed our policy so that we're going to send all students to Manchester unless there is a clear hardship,” LaFlamme said. “At this point Candia is upholding its end of the contract and we expect Manchester to do that as well.”

LaFlamme serves on the advisory committee at Manchester High School Central, where Candia students attend classes.

Earlier this week, the Hooksett School Board voted to send Manchester notice that it will terminate the contract if the overcrowding issue is not addressed within 180 days. It also told Superintendent Charles Littlefield to start looking for another high school option for Hooksett students.

Manchester School Superintendent Thomas Brennan has been given authority by the school board to make changes in staff deployment and curriculum to alleviate overcrowding. He has also suggested cutting some athletic offerings to free up money for teachers.

The overcrowding issue surfaces at a time when some in Candia question whether Manchester is the best option for its students.

Earlier this year, the school board asked Brennan for information concerning Candia student grade point averages compared to other students at Manchester Central.

“The goal of the school board is to put the well-being of the Candia community in the forefront,” said LaFlamme, a granddaughter of Wilfred LaFlamme who served as Manchester's mayor in the early years of World War II. “If Manchester is in breach, we will watch closely and will have to take steps to keep education as the focus.”

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Bill Smith may be reached at wsmith@unionleader.com.