If Freeport votes to withdraw from Regional School Unit 5 on Nov. 4, residents of Durham and Pownal, the two other towns in the district, will face some critical decisions.

Where their children go to high school, especially for Pownal residents, is high on that list. Not far down is the cost of educating them without Freeport in the mix, no matter where they go.

The potential scenario for Durham and Pownal students appears to differ.

Durham residents, who sent their children to Brunswick High School prior to the formation of RSU 5 five years ago, might be doing so again. The Brunswick School Board has agreed to make Brunswick High the school of guaranteed acceptance a move that would facilitate the switch.

Pownal town officials, meanwhile, have said throughout the withdrawal process that Brunswick High is not a good option for them. It’s too far away, they say. And while the withdrawal agreement gives Pownal and Durham students a place at Freeport High School for another nine years, Pownal residents might also choose Yarmouth High School or Greely High School in Cumberland.

Eric and Christine Dube of Pownal say they are looking to Yarmouth, and in fact will be moving there soon.

Eric Dube said that the withdrawal issue isn’t the only reason his family is moving to Yarmouth, where they are buying a house. Their son will attend Yarmouth High School as a freshman this fall, while their daughter will stay in Freeport for another year, as a sixth-grader at Freeport Middle School.

“Pownal is looking at moving its students to Yarmouth High School,” said Dube, a member of the Advisory Committee that represented the town’s interest in the withdrawal process.

Advisory committees from both Durham and Pownal worked with the RSU 5 Working Group to speak for their respective town interests as the Working Group negotiated withdrawal with the Freeport Withdrawal Committee. According to Tim Giddinge, chairman of the Pownal Board of Selectmen, the selectmen are scheduled to meet with the Advisory Committee on Monday, Aug. 25, to discuss how the town should move forward if Freeport leaves RSU 5.

Dube said that he and his wife want to be closer to the Yarmouth schools and to some good friends they have in town. They have nothing against living in Pownal, he said. The condition of Freeport High School is one reason, he said. Some people are sending their children to Greely High School because they feel it’s a better school, he said.

“There’s a lot of people who have transferred their children out (of Freeport schools),” he said.

Dube, a former RSU 5 board member, said that Freeport leaving RSU 5 could have some positive ramifications for Pownal, were it not for state regulations. He’s not sure the state education commissioner will allow Pownal to have school choice.

“We don’t know how the state is going to allow Pownal to function,” he said.

The Freeport withdrawal effort was spearheaded by a small group of “boisterous” Freeport residents, Dube said. They want to “kick Durham and Pownal out of the club” because the towns didn’t support RSU 5 budgets, he said.

“But there are a whole lot of people in Freeport who want our kids and our tax dollars,” Dube said. “I can’t tell you how ticked off that makes me. This whole battle to me seems to be more about adults than it is about kids.”

Gabe and Vianna Digristina have three children age 6 or younger, with two of them going to Pownal Elementary School. Gabe Digristina is hoping that Freeport residents vote against withdrawal in November.

“We have dear friends in Freeport and our kids are close to them,” he said. “We love the Freeport community and the people in it.”

As Giddinge has said, most Pownal residents have little interest in sending their children to Brunswick schools, Digristina said.

Digristina also inferred that, if Freeport leaves, Durham and/or Pownal might follow suit.

“We could consider all options on the table if Freeport withdraws,” he said. “I know that’s been talked about in closed circles, but I still kind of hope Freeport doesn’t withdraw.”

As for his children, Digristina said they will have “serious input” regarding where they go to school, but he lives only two miles from the Yarmouth town line, and Yarmouth schools would be a possibility.

Giddinge is concerned going forward with budgets. He wonders how Pownal would pay shared budget items such as music and literacy teachers, and other services,

“I want to see an RSU 5 budget and I want Freeport to see a Freeport-only budget,” Giddinge said, “and I’m afraid they’re going to be inaccurate numbers. When you have a contracted position instead of hired positions, they’re always more. There’s no way to get an accurate budget together.”

Giddinge worries that his town will be hit hard by the costs of a smaller school unit. An RSU 5 that only includes Durham and Pownal still would need to pay for a superintendent, a special education director and “everything else the law requires,” he said.

“There was some benefit for us, I believe, in sharing the costs with Freeport,” Giddinge said.

In addition, Pownal would have to maintain Pownal Elementary School, which is 47 years old, on its own.

“We’ll need to have our own capital plan on an old school,” Giddinge said. “The taxpayers are going to have to come up with a whole bunch of money on year 1, just for startup money. We were paying 12.6 percent of capital expenses. RSU 5 spent nearly $400,000 a year on capital expenses.”

Getting back school choice is one positive that could come out of Freeport’s withdrawal, Giddinge said. As part of the agreement that formed RSU 5 in 2009, Durham and Pownal had to give up school choice.

“That’s the best deal for Pownal, getting choice back,” he said.

Durham, in some ways, is in a different position from Pownal. It’s much closer to Brunswick High School. Moreover, Durham Community School educates students through eighth grade, and is much newer, with fewer renovation needs than Pownal Elementary.

Yet, Durham also would face a challenge in running a small, two-town regional school unit.

“As a smaller RSU, raising capital is a challenging situation,” said Durham resident John Simoneau, who has attended public meetings during the withdrawal negotiations. “Capital projects at the schools will be hard to get to pass because of the tax impacts. Roads are in terrible shape here, and we need money for that, too.”

Simoneau and his wife, Kimberly, have daughters entering first and third grades at Durham Community School. So they don’t need to worry about where their children will go to school for a while.

“K through 8 we’ve got a good school,” Simoneau said. “But it’s all going to cost us more for our high school kids, and we’re going to have some administration costs. What effect will that have on the operational aspect? Will there be pressure to cut programs, and positions?”

As for Freeport, Simoneau said he believes Freeport High School would be better off and able to offer students more programs if it has more students enrolled.

Laurie Poissonnier of Durham was on the regional planning committee that formed RSU 5, and was board chairman before Nelson Larkins of Freeport took that position. Poissonnier, who has twin sons who will be sophomores at Freeport High this fall, said it came as no surprise to her that the Brunswick School Board agreed last week to make Brunswick High the school of guaranteed acceptance for RSU 5, should Freeport withdraw.

“The kids are going to get a good education no matter which high school they go to,” Poissonnier said. “What’s upsetting is we’re losing our voices at the high school level. We’ll have no say on what goes on at Brunswick High School. We’re also losing community. The kids won’t call Brunswick High School their own.”

The five RSU 5 directors from Durham and Pownal have been out straight with the withdrawal negotiations, and now they must gear up for a busy autumn. If withdrawal is approved, then sometime next spring, they would need a board chairman, and they would have to begin working on a budget that doesn’t include Freeport.

“There are some questions,” Poissonnier said, regarding the planning of a school unit that doesn’t include Freeport.

Jeff Wakeman, chairman of the Durham Board of Selectmen, said that running the schools would be more expensive, withdrawal or no withdrawal. Last fall, RSU 5 residents approved a $14.8 million bond for renovations and enlargement of Freeport High School. The money was never spent and the work not started because of the December 2013 withdrawal vote in Freeport. That bond money will disappear if Freeport votes to withdraw, but could become binding again if there is no withdrawal, Wakeman said.

“And if Freeport withdraws, state requirements for school systems include things such as special education, a superintendent and administrative costs,” he said.