DEERFIELD— As the Deerfield School District approaches its first opportunity in a decade to reevaluate its contract with Concord High School, the town is considering options for its 200-plus students.

The Deerfield School District and Concord High School’s contract has a minimum duration of 10 years, at which point the town may present a letter of termination with three years’ notice. If no notice is given, the contract will continue for up to 20 years. The contract entered its ninth year this year, and Deerfield, finding itself in a different position from when it signed the contract, is capitalizing on the chance to take stock.

Most significant is the possibility of the district changing schools entirely. A study of area schools in a 30-mile radius capable and willing to take all of Deerfield’s grades 9 to 12 students yielded a three-option “shortlist”: Pembroke Academy, Oyster River High School in Durham and a renegotiation of the Concord High contract.

While little would change for students or parents if the town stays with Concord, School Board Chairman Donald Gorman noted at an Oct. 17 forum to discuss to issue that the possibility of renegotiation could yield significant results for the town.

“We are in a much better position to negotiate situations that were rather unpleasant that we had to deal with with Concord,” he said. “It really increases our negotiating ability if we stay with Concord.”

Before Concord High, Deerfield sent its students to several area high schools, but this became untenable as more and more schools limited or cut the admission of Deerfield students.

“Ten years ago, we had a rough situation,” said Gorman. “We were getting squeezed into a box because (there) was no way out of it unless we could find a school that would take all of our students.”

Around this time, Concord High’s enrollment declined as Bow students were moving to the town’s recently opened Bow High School. Deerfield stepped in to fill the gap.

“We have a much, much different situation now,” said Gorman. “The situation now is we have three schools that are willing to accept the entire graduating class of 200 students.”

No official course has been set as of yet. Another public forum will be held on the issue in December with a shorter list of options. An advisory warrant, to be voted on in March 2013, will be then be issued to ask voters if they approve of the options presented by the School Board. The warrant will not be binding, but will offer the board “leverage and understanding” of where the town stands.

“This is Deerfield,” said Gorman. “We aren’t going to go ahead and do something without a lot of input from the community.”

Negotiations with the selected schools will begin at that time.

- - - - - - - -

Brendan Clogston may be reached at bclogston@newstote.com.