FREEPORT – By the time Regional School Unit 5 directors meet Dec. 18, they will know if the body they represent will remain intact, or one that may face possible elimination.

On Dec. 17, Freeport voters decided if they wanted to explore the town’s withdrawal from RSU 5. The polls closed at 8 Tuesday night, and votes weren’t expected to be counted until around 11, after the Tri-Town Weekly’s deadline.

If the town voted to explore withdrawal, a subsequent vote could disband the RSU as early as next autumn. If voters opted to keep the RSU, one of the first orders of business will be to consider the appointment of a Freeport High School Building Committee, which will go about the business of executing a $14.6 renovation and expansion and renovation of Freeport High School.

A vote to explore withdrawal, though, means no Freeport High renovation – not in the near future, at least. School board members have said they would not spend that money if Tuesday’s vote favors withdrawal, and the RSU would need to wait on the project until a final decision on the matter is made. If the ultimate vote is for Freeport to leave the district, school board members have said, the town would need to identify its own renovation funding, without the help of Durham and Pownal residents.

The original date for Wednesday night’s 6:30 p.m. meeting was Dec. 11, but the RSU 5 board voted at its last meeting to postpone for a week, when the vote would be known. Superintendent Shannon Welsh said that, in case of a vote to retain the RSU, she wanted to move quickly on the Freeport High School Building Committee, so that it could begin the process of hiring architects and engineers.

Welsh said at the Nov. 20 meeting that it would take about nine months for an architect to create drawings. Construction of a renovated and enlarged Freeport High School could begin next October or November, and the project could be completed by September 2016, Welsh said.

The meeting will begin with a half-hour social gathering, a concept that board members devised earlier this year to allow them a chance to discuss their thoughts and concerns informally with community members.

Soon after the social time, Welsh will announce the results of Tuesday’s vote. Public comments will follow, then the appointment of the committee is the first item under new business.