Souhegan High School

Story

Souhegan High School is a Coalition of Essential Schools high school located in Amherst, New Hampshire. Students from Amherst and Mont Vernon attend Souhegan for 9th through 12th grades. There are approximately 870 students and over 160 faculty members. The name is derived from the Souhegan River, which adjoins the school property and the Souhegan Valley region of New Hampshire (which was, in turn, also named for the river). The word Souhegan comes from the Algonquin language, meaning "waiting and watching place".HistoryAmherst had long sought to apply economies of scale through a cooperative high school in partnership with adjoining towns and made several overtures in the late 1950s and early 1960s to neighboring Milford and other towns, but found no support. A proposal for a cooperative district with Bedford came to a vote in 1961, passing overwhelmingly in Amherst, but being defeated in Bedford. In November 1964, Amherst and Milford entered into the state's first Authorized Regional Enrollment Area (or "AREA") agreement, a long-term tuition agreement under which Milford would retain ownership and absolute control of the high school and Amherst would pay tuition to Milford based upon Milford's per-pupil costs of the preceding year, plus a share of the school's capital debt, but had no voice in the school's governance; the agreement was irrevocable while the debt was carried. Mont Vernon joined the AREA agreement and additionally sent its middle school students to Milford. Amherst was dissatisfied with the high school and its lack of voice, and "Milford felt that Amherst had educational ideas too rich for Milford's blood." The school boards of Amherst and Milford tentatively planned in 1976 to not renew the AREA agreement in ten years' time when the high school's capital debt was anticipated to be paid off. The Amherst School District appointed a committee to examine the alternatives, including building a high school of its own. The committee commissioned a study by an architectural and educational planning firm, which was published in 1982.