By the end of this school year, about 120 students who were not succeeding at Merrimack Valley High School will have left the classroom. In a world where most jobs require at least a high school diploma, many dropouts will find their options limited and their future uncertain.

Next year, school officials hope some will try an alternative: a new charter school where hands-on experience is the teaching method and intensive contact with instructors is the norm. In addition to supporting a $31.3 million budget and a new teachers contract, voters at last night's annual district meeting approved the school, to be called CSI Charter School. The school's name denotes the qualities it will focus on - each child's competencies, skills and interests.

The project did not technically need voters' approval, but officials did not want to pursue the initiative without residents' support.

"The charter school gives all kinds of options to students so they can succeed, and they're more apt to find, because the classes are so small, what the students are interested in," said Claire Clarke, a voter and state representative from Boscawen.

Expected to enroll 20 to 40 students, CSI will focus on allowing kids to pursue activities beyond the classroom walls that might be translated into school credits. The plan is rooted in the concept of real-world learning, a principle endorsed by the state Board of Education two years ago. Every high school in the state will be required to offer real-world alternatives starting with the 2008-09 school year.

Lorrie Carey, a school board representative from Boscawen, said that was the story of a teenager from her town that got her interested in the charter school. The teenager loved playing golf, she said; the golf team was what kept him going to school every day. But his grades dropped low enough that he wasn't allowed to play on the team anymore.

"That was it," she said. "We lost that child that day. In the charter school, there would be opportunities not to squelch that one passion that brought that child to school each day."

Some residents questioned what effect CSI would have on Merrimack Valley's dropout rate, which at 12.9 percent is slightly above the state average.

"I've been in the intervention industry for 12, 13 years," said Peter Brigham of Penacook, stressing the importance of reaching out to children in the early grades. "These kids decide in middle school to drop out."

One high-schooler, though, said it wasn't too late to help some of her peers.

"There are a large number of students around me who either are apathetic to school or just learn differently and feel that they can't take advantage of the academics," said Whitney Nemiccolo of Loudon, a senior.

The charter school's relationship to the district was a point of concern for some voters. CSI will exist as an independent public school in a partnership with the Merrimack Valley School District. Although district officials are the ones who came up with the idea for the charter school, obtained state approval and are pursuing initial funding for the school, CSI will be overseen by an independent board of trustees. The board of trustees will include a member of the MV school board and meet quarterly with the MV board. The partnership also means that students at CSI will be able to take part in athletics and other extracurricular activities at MV.

But in terms of enrollment and funding, the charter school will be its own entity. Students at MV interested in going to CSI would have to submit applications, just like teenagers from outside the Merrimack Valley district, and if they matriculate at CSI, they will no longer be considered MV students. The charter school is expected to be housed in the old Washington Street School in Penacook along with the Merrimack Valley Learning Center, which includes the district's intensive special education program for students in grades seven through 12, its alternate learning program and its in-school suspension program. However, the charter school will pay for any renovations or upgrades needed for its space in the building, and it will pay rent to the district.

Funding was a particular worry for voters. The money for CSI's first school year, which could begin as early as this fall, is expected to come in the form of a $300,000 grant from the state. The district applied for the grant last week and expects to hear whether it has been approved within a week or two, said Christine Barry, the assistant superintendent. For each student it enrolls, the charter school will also receive an amount of money predetermined by the state; the current figure for charter is $3,598, which is approximately half of the average cost of educating one public-school student in New Hampshire. After the initial $300,000 runs out, the board of trustees will be responsible for raising money to keep the school running.

"It would not be the responsibility of these taxpayers to fiscally support the school," Carey said.

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