A bitter, heretofore-secret contract dispute between a Saco high school and the city’s education leaders has gone public.

Superintendent Jeremy Ray issued an equally-angry response to Thornton Academy’s headmaster, Rene Menard, who wrote to taxpayers pleading for support.

Thornton is a private high school that contracts with the city for secondary education.

Menard claims in a letter to taxpayers that the school board is essentially trying to end the 200-year relationship between the city and Thornton and send Saco kids to other area high schools.

“The negotiating team for the Saco School Board has drawn a line in the sand, and we are at risk of not having a contract for next year,” Menard wrote. “They no longer want an agreement that guarantees every Saco high school student attends Thornton Academy.”

In a letter also published by Biddeford Buzz, Ray rejected Menard’s suggestion that the board wants to quit sending kids to Thornton.

He accused Menard of not only going public but peddling “misinformation” about what Ray said were supposed to be confidential negotiations.

“We want Thornton Academy to remain Saco’s high school,” Ray said.

He denied Menard’s claim that the board wants to end its agreement to send all Saco kids to Thornton.

“That is not true,” Ray said. “The district is not moving anyone anywhere.”

Joshua Wolfe, publisher of the Biddeford Buzz, said of the back-and-forth between Menard and Ray, “it’s getting kind of intense.”