... boys who attended the school since he had started...

[whatever]

Hello dear friends.

I wonder if it's ok to use past pimple in the underlined fragment, or it's compulsory to use past perfect.
My preference is "attended", because the boys attended the school after he had started working there.
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I talked to the headmaster for a while – he hadn't left. He said the he remembered every boy who (attended / had attended) the school since he had started working there in 1979.
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[emsr2d2]

Hello. [STRIKE]dear friends.[/STRIKE]

I wonder if it's [STRIKE]ok[/STRIKE] OK/okay to use the past simple in the underlined fragment, or if it's compulsory to use the past perfect.
My preference is "attended", because the boys attended the school after he had started working there.
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I talked to the headmaster for a while – he hadn't left. He said the he remembered every boy who had attended the school since he [STRIKE]had[/STRIKE] started working there in 1979.
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See above.

 

[jutfrank]

I have a strong preference for this:

He said that he remembered every boy who had attended the school since he started working there in 1979.